Days Gone By
by Emperor Kumquat
Summary: Nothing in the world could keep Sweden from Finland, not even the horrors of Purgatory. After cutting himself on a shadow, his journey through the Land of Eternal Night begins. Sweden must travel through vast lands, passing every test and surviving in a world full of monsters while on the search for the sun that will return him home and to his one true love.
1. The Rules

**The Rules of Eteni**

1\. Never be afraid.

2\. Never stop moving.

3\. Resist all temptations.

4\. Do not run.

5\. Do not fight.

6\. Stay focused.

7\. Do not look back.


	2. Fire Roses and the Little Moon

Why didn't a camping trip planned by Denmark sound like a good idea? When Sweden had received an invite, an image simply popped into his mind of the five Nordics around a campfire with Denmark swigging bottle after bottle of beer down and laughing so loudly that the forest echoed from his boisterous howls. Half of them would be drunk for sure, with perhaps some plain party music pumping out from a stereo nestled on the pine needles by someone's leg. In fact, it was so predictable that Sweden's lip pulled to the side and he tried to think of an excuse out of it.

In the email he had received, Denmark had assured him that he just wanted to spend some quality time with everyone, all said with exclamation points replacing the periods. Denmark was obviously excited and wanted them to come, so Sweden's excuse would have to be solid. He sat and thought for a minute before he bent over his keyboard with a gentle sigh.

 _Denmark, what do you have planned? Do you intend to get everyone drunk?_

The reply came surprisingly fast.

 _No way! I'm not bringing any alcohol this time. I have something WAY cooler planned!_

What could that mean? Sweden knew that Denmark must have actual plans if he was saying this. What befuddled him more however, was when Denmark quickly followed up with, _Wait, you don't need to bring anything but a few changes of clothes. I'm taking care of it all!_

Well, because it all seemed so interesting now he decided then that he would come. If they were to do something entirely new, it might end up being fun. He acknowledged what Denmark had told him with a simple _ok_ before going back to his work.

Only a minute later he began to think about Denmark's invitation again. Why wouldn't Denmark just tell them what he had planned? Why did it have to be a surprise? With all this secrecy and insistence that this camping trip was more than a regular camping trip, it made him wonder what could possibly be so exciting. If anything was even exciting about it. Maybe it was just another thing Denmark was more passionate about while the rest of them were left hardly batting an eye once in the face of it.

Sweden's thoughts then crept elsewhere. Finland was likely to come too and thinking about this made him vastly more enthusiastic about the trip instantaneously. Memories of the past came to him and Sweden remembered fondly when the two of them had navigated the land together, escaping from Denmark's rule. He thought about the end of every long day when they would lie down under the endless night sky with breezes blowing over them and each one carrying varying scents: meadow, pine, river.

One night in particular had left an unfading memory with him that was dear to his heart; the night when he had held Finland to keep him warm. To cuddle him had been so nice; maybe it had been for Finland too? Sweden regretted that he had never asked and now he thought it would be too awkward to now. But perhaps, they could do that again. As they were nearing the end of August, the nights might grow cold.

 _Maybe…_

Ah, how his life held so many maybes. He had stopped typing now in need to remind himself to remain rational. He did not know how Finland felt about him and Sweden had to remember how delicate friendships could be. If Sweden dared to utter a word that hinted to the centuries of repressed, strong feelings, it might ruin everything. He truly appreciated what they had now. Even if Finland didn't or would never feel the same, he could live with that because as long as Finland could be happy in his company, that was enough. Hanging out with him, playing with the dog, entertaining Sealand- these things were too precious to destroy.

His vow of silence had to continue for the sake of these things. Like the norm in his culture, he kept his feelings to himself in order to protect current life and the person who might be harmed by the words trapped in his mouth.

* * *

The next day Sweden made his way over to Denmark. He arrived to his house as planned for Denmark had affirmed that he would drive them all to the location which he had refused to reveal. Upon strolling into the living room, Sweden found that Norway and Iceland were already there. Both greeted him in turn before Sweden sat down beside them with his backpack sliding down to his ankle.

Iceland and Norway had their own bags, but Denmark, who was pacing around in a black shirt and beige shorts, had nothing on him or even anything stationed by the door. Sweden watched him with his sharp eyes peering behind his freshly wiped glasses, wondering where everything was and what was going to happen.

Minutes later, the door opened and Denmark yelped excitedly to hurry to greet Finland as he stepped in. When Finland came into sight also wearing outdoorsy clothes and bearing a backpack, Sweden focused his gaze on him. He hadn't seen him in so long and he had to take him in again. His eyes, his soft face, his kind demeanor in contrast to the hardened seriousness that he knew Finland was capable of. It was so alluring and Sweden was once again left wondering how it possible that the sight of someone could cause such a spell of happiness to befall him.

The faintest of smiles touched his lips but when Finland looked his way he dropped it and looked to the side. Denmark fortunately saved him from being overwhelmed by embarrassment by announcing, "Alright, everybody! Let's load up!"

The three of them on the couch rose and collected their things. Finland turned right around to step back out and Denmark was close behind him. They all went up to a truck and Denmark pulled the front seat forward to let Finland into the back first. As there was obviously not so much room back there, Norway and Iceland joined Finland to let Sweden take the passenger seat. As he walked around the truck he took a peek into the back to confirm what he had been suspecting.

"Where's all the stuff?" he mumbled across the vehicle to Denmark.

Denmark's backside stuck out and waggled as he fixed the front seat. His reply floated back innocently, "What? There are things back there."

"Not much."

"Well, the rest is already waiting at the location for us."

That was unusual but also plausible. Not that it would really be a challenge anyway to go out and buy supplies if Denmark had been dumb enough to underpack. Sweden opened the door and pulled himself into the seat beside Denmark, who was also getting in at the same time. As Sweden closed the door, his eyes flashed to the side mirror when it caught Finland's reflection. Sweden turned a bit to face away from the mirror to force himself to look outside until he eventually gained an actual interest in observing the changing landscape.

He watched the houses, apartments, and stores sweep by. Cities changed, then farms, and forests. Denmark said nothing but bounced in his seat to the upbeats songs that played on the radio. Everyone else was too confused to partake in the same gleefulness. It was a waiting game until Norway finally muttered for them all, "So are you going to tell us where we're going yet?"

First, Denmark laughed. Then, he replied, "Goldheart Forest."

"Never heard of it."

"It has another official name, but it's not as cool."

There had to be a reason Denmark had chosen this forest specifically. Sweden therefore asked, "Why that one?"

"I saw something cool about it on the internet."

"What did you read?" Finland joined in. Sweden glanced at him in the side mirror then physically turned himself to regard Denmark.

Denmark hummed to the song mischievously while a smile crept across his face.

"Hey, come on. Tell us already," Iceland grunted.

"What? But it'll take away from the experience!" Denmark protested.

"What experience?" Norway demanded. "Tell us exactly, what we will be doing."

"Relax! It'll be fun!"

"Come on, we're all here now!" Iceland argued.

Denmark tapped the wheel, grinning broadly when he chirped, "Patience, guys!"

Finland said, "Can you at least tell us how far away it is?"

"Oh yeah, sure. We'll get there sometime in the late evening."

"Are you kidding?" Iceland groaned. "Why is it so far away? We could have camped in any old forest."

"Nope!" Denmark chuckled. "But don't worry. We'll stop for dinner along the way and I'll pay."

Sweden had been watching Denmark's expressions, but nothing hinted at anything. It was admittedly frustrating, especially now that they would have to wait all these hours while Denmark teasingly held onto the secret. The drive continued with Denmark soon turning up the music and proclaiming, "Come on, we're on vacation! Cheer up!"

Finland was the first to copy Denmark's swaying and eventually Norway bobbed his head slightly once also seeming to realize that he was away from work and allowed to relax. Iceland didn't appear to want to jam to any songs, but when Sweden had looked back he had indeed seen Iceland's leg bouncing. The music was setting everyone into a better mood and even Sweden dipped his head to bob it like Norway although not as deeply.

Denmark started singing purposefully badly to the songs in a falsetto voice, and it happened not to annoy him today. Sweden smiled again in the slightest way as he rolled down the window. He set his elbow out and tilted his face into the wind. The air that slapped him was cool and fresh as it went over his skin and ruffled his hair. He closed his eyes because it felt so nice and it was comforting enough to render him drowsy.

When time passed and he opened his eyes again, the mirror was right in front of his face and he was shocked to find that Finland was looking directly at him. Shocked because he didn't know how long he had been watching him or if there was any reason for it. Finland had been sitting right behind him the whole time, likely to have been glancing at the back of his head when he had been sitting up. And because he had been avoiding staring at the mirror, he had no way of knowing how often this was.

Sweden willed his blush away, assuring himself that people looked at each other all the time. He had been leaning out the window when no one else was; he had attracted attention to himself and he could now see Iceland looking at him too. It didn't mean anything. That was that.

He closed his eyes again but couldn't help wondering if he was still being looked at. It felt like it, so he tried to creak open his eyes to check while trying to make it look like his eyes were still closed. He saw that Finland was looking away now. He shut his eyes again.

They pulled off the highway and searched for a restaurant. Various colours were just beginning to stretch across the sky by the time they were all out of the car and padding toward a diner. Although he tried not showing anything on the surface, Sweden wondered about the seating arrangements right up until they were shown the table and all of them had taken trips to the bathroom. He stepped in first into the booth, shuffling down to the end. The bench was polished wood and Sweden grunted when Denmark slid across it at full speed and slammed into him.

Sweden shouldered him off, not particularly bothered although Denmark was silently choking on his laughter. Sweden looked up as the other three Nordics were gazing at them and filtering in on the other side of the table. Norway sat and picked up the menu in front of him before Sweden glanced down and picked up his own.

There were so many sandwiches to choose from. He selected one without taking too much care in reading the listed ingredients because he was starting to get distracted by Denmark's secret again. Sitting beside him was making the questions rise back up and he wanted so much to prod him again, although he knew that Denmark would be persistently stubborn. He said nothing instead, not wanting to waste words. Sweden sat back and let others drive the conversation, inserting appropriate grunts or mutters to assure them that he was listening.

"Denmark." The rest went quiet once Norway spoke up and the mood went serious. "We're almost there, right?"

"Yeah," Denmark murmured. Sweden deadpanned. Why was Denmark quiet now? Where had his excitement gone? Slowly he frowned and glared at him. Denmark turned his head and met his eyes.

"What?" Denmark blinked. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Why're you so quiet?"

"Quiet?" Denmark was raising his voice now to match its norm. "I'm not being quiet. When am I ever quiet, Sve?"

"You're being weird," Finland agreed.

"Ah, I'm just hungry is all," Denmark sighed as he leaned back into the wood to take up a nonchalant air.

Sweden hadn't stopped looking at him and now he recognized what was apparent: Denmark was nervous. But what would he be nervous about? His heart sunk suddenly. Something wasn't right and he was getting a bad feeling about this "camping trip". He had to press him.

"What is going on?" Sweden leaned in and let his gaze bore into him.

"Hey, no need to jump on me." Denmark turned his head and stared into his eyes. "I just don't want to tell you what the surprise is until we get there. You won't stop asking so I'm a little irritated, alright?"

"The surprise," Norway interjected, "is it good or bad?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is it going to hurt someone?"

Denmark's eyes widened. "You think I would plan to _hurt_ you guys?"

He was offended; this Sweden was sure of.

Denmark uttered, "No. No one will get hurt."

But Sweden knew that there was a shade of doubt to what he had said. His eyebrows had moved inwards and the muscles of his face had twitched. That micro-expression caused a chill to go down his spine although Sweden stopped himself from being controlled by dread. This was Denmark; he should trust him. Denmark cared deeply about them, so surely he wouldn't plan something that would hurt them? And yet… Denmark was not confident and it could mean that he was trusting them not to get hurt although there was a chance of it happening.

"Spill it," Norway huffed.

Sweden saw Denmark reach into his pants' left pocket, stop, then retract his hand. "Come on, Nor," Denmark replied. "We'll be out of here and be there within the hour. Please wait. Please! I've been so excited to do this with you guys because I thought it would be cool. Don't ruin it for us. I can't tell you now because the mood isn't right- it has to be dark."

Sweden saw that Norway was on the verge of saying _why_ because of how his mouth was shaped, but Norway snapped his mouth closed, reset, then sighed, "Fine. We can wait."

Denmark brightened up. The delight on his face caused the negative feelings creeping into Sweden's heart to disperse. This with Denmark's constant positivity throughout the day, made it seem that tonight's surprise couldn't possibly be so bad.

* * *

The sky was a deep, navy blue as twilight slipped away from them. The truck turned down a path overrun by weeds, signifying how unused it was. Sweden was looking out again, peering through the gaps of the spaced-out pines and seeing less and less as the darkness thickened. He couldn't help thinking now that it would be hard setting up camp in the dark, having to rely on flashlights. They should have met up and left earlier.

The truck was parked close by the road they had turned off of. Denmark had only crept in enough to keep the vehicle out of sight before he decided to stop. Each of them hopped out onto the shady path, rocks crunching under their feet before they stood and looked to Denmark. Sweden slipped around the truck and joined the others, becoming baffled as Denmark reached into the back and started stuffing the supplies into the truck.

Finland gasped, "I'm sorry but, what are you doing?"

Denmark hesitated, then said, "We don't need any of this."

"Umm, what?"

Denmark halted for a moment and turned to them.

"We aren't setting up camp tonight."

"What are we doing then?" Finland asked. "Sleeping in the back of the truck under the stars?"

Sweden felt a burst of enthusiasm. That wasn't dangerous; it sounded cozy, in fact. All of them together under blankets and looking up at the moon with the myriad of stars surrounding it. The temperature was just right for it and he didn't feel tired at all. They could stay up recounting old memories while music played softly on someone's phone. Perhaps too, Finland would want to…

"No," Denmark said.

The dream snapped away in a flash.

"Huh?" Finland blinked.

"We won't be sleeping tonight."

"Then what do you expect us to do?" Iceland cried.

Denmark replied, "Alright, I promise that if you help me put everything in the truck, I will tell you what we're going to do."

They all begrudgingly moved forward to do this. They saw as they worked, Denmark stuffing water bottles and granola bars into a smaller bag which he right after slung around his shoulders once packed. He then dug out three flashlights and moved out of their way. Impatience fluttered in Sweden's chest as he desired an explanation, although it was obvious now that Denmark wanted them to go on an excursion.

"What about our bags?" Norway asked.

"Keep your phones but put the bags inside."

The four of them stepped forward to dump their bags. Sweden stopped before throwing his away, weighing the temperature of the air. It might get colder but not too cold. He unzipped his bag and took out a sweater. He took off his shirt behind everyone to throw the hoodie on before he tucked the shirt into the bag and closed it up. Sweden put in the last bag and he was the one to slam the door shut. The truck shouted when it was locked, but then they were enveloped in a deep silence. Sweden turned around and moved into the semicircle forming around Denmark.

Denmark dealt out the three flashlights to Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. Then, he reached into both his pockets. From one he removed his phone, which he meddled with first to turn on its flashlight. After that he revealed a single folded piece of paper which he opened on and shined the light upon.

"So I was on the Internet and I came across a story." His voice was low; completely serious. Sweden already didn't like where this was going. "It regarded a forest, and I have brought you all to this forest. I am sorry that I lied. I did not bring extra supplies. We will be going out into Goldheart Forest to explore the legend that surrounds it."

"Are you going to read us the legend?" Iceland asked.

"Er, no," Denmark said. "That's not what's on the paper… But the legend is that those who enter the forest during the night only survive if they have good hearts."

Norway cut in, "Denmark, this isn't a joke, is it?"

"No. This forest is apparently haunted."

"And why did you think this was a good idea?" Norway snapped.

"Look," Denmark said. "I looked into it and I read so many stories where people walked through here and saw things with nothing bad ever happening to them. I think we'll be fine. Don't you think we're good people? We'll make it through and it'll be interesting! Don't you want to see things?"

They were silent.

Denmark pressed, "Norway, it doesn't feel dangerous, does it? You're good with these things. So...?"

Norway inhaled deeply. Everyone waited through the silent seconds until he exhaled and muttered, "I don't know."

"It's not bad," Denmark explained. "No one's ever died coming in here!"

"Are you sure?" Finland pressed. "You didn't happen to miss any missing person reports, did you?"

Denmark swallowed.

"Oh my god. We're not doing this, Denmark!" Iceland snarled. "Take us somewhere else. Get us a hotel or something!"

"I never saw a missing report!" Denmark rushed. "I promise. I mean, just the first two pages on Google said nothing bad about it so I'm pretty sure. If someone went missing here, wouldn't that be right up front with the search results? Come on, it's just going to be spooky, not dangerous. We will be safe if we play by the rules."

"Rules?" They chorused.

"It's a game some people play." Denmark's shoulders dropped as he relaxed. "That's all. Can't we play the game too?"

Sweden crossed his arms.

"I'll read them," Denmark said. And with that, he looked down at the paper glowing from the single white light shining in the ever blackening forest.

" _There are seven rules to take heed to in order to survive Eteni_."

That word he had said was unfamiliar. Denmark had pronounced it as _eh_ - _tuh_ - _nee_ and Sweden thought that it rather sounded like a fantasy world of a video game.

" _One. Never be afraid. Two. Never stop moving. Three. Resist all temptations. Four. Do not run. Five. Do not fight. Six. Stay focused. Seven. Do not look back_."

Sweden shivered. He did not like those rules. Each one was disturbing on its own but the disallowance to run or fight was terrifying. Especially when they were also not supposed to look back as they were walking to never know if something was creeping up on them.

"So, you guys up to it or are you all too scared?" Denmark sneered.

Sweden could remember the rules and follow them. He could do this with ease, he was certain, but he found it all unnecessary. He did not want them to put themselves into danger. Not sure what to say, Sweden looked down to Finland. He appeared as equally concerned as he felt. Sweden looked over Norway's frowning visage then Iceland's.

"I'm not scared," Norway said. "But-"

"You are so!"

"I'm not," he sighed.

"We'll be together and we'll follow the rules." Denmark shrugged. "Come on, it'll be a challenge for us to stick together and get through it all. Even if this game is all just made up, we are still spending time together. Let's go for a walk, talk, and maybe see some ghosts!"

Denmark put the paper back into his pocket and turned off his phone to do the same. He started up the path and one-by-one, they went after him with sighs. Sweden ended up at the back of the group and he clicked on his flashlight and swept it to the sides. As he followed and put distance between himself and the truck, the urge to look behind was strong, but the pattering of his heart warned him away from it.

He controlled his respiration to calm himself.

 _There are no ghosts_ , he chastised himself. _I should not be afraid._

Such a thing would have been easy to say in the day. At night though, when he could hardly see around himself and every sound was sharp in the silence, it was by far less convincing.

He heard Denmark strike up a conversation with Norway and Iceland who were by him, beaming their lights up ahead. Finland had been hanging in the middle but Sweden was surprised when he dropped back to his side.

"I just noticed," Finland said too quietly for the others to hear, "you're wearing the sweater I bought you."

Thank goodness it was dark. Sweden lowered the flashlight because he knew his face must have been red. He hadn't expected that Finland would have noticed, but the loose grey hoodie was so comfortable and it fit so perfectly that he couldn't resist bringing it. He wore it all the time since he had gotten it as a Christmas gift, usually at home or last year during the entire autumn season. It was great for cool weather or at night with something warm to drink. It was so nice that often he liked to dip his face down into the sweater so that the soft fabric hid his mouth and sometimes even his nose.

It took effort to squeeze out, "It fits well. I like it."

One hand went up but he dropped it and snuck it into the front pouch pocket. Finland would have known he was embarrassed if he had covered his face.

"Oh! That's great," Finland chirped then laughed lightly. Sweden instantly relaxed; the anxious feelings he had gained when Denmark was reading the rules out to them faded away. This forest suddenly seemed no different than any other forest he had walked through with Finland so now the atmosphere had become nostalgic.

"So how's Hana?" Sweden asked.

"Oh, she's as cute as always! I got someone to take care of her while I'm away because I couldn't bear just to leave her at the kennel," he replied. "But she was being so crazy yesterday. She just kept barking and barking so I kept telling her, 'Hey, knock it off!' until I finally figured out why she was doing it. You know what it was?"

"Mm?"

"There was a squirrel in the house!"

Sweden laughed, although in his quiet way: a wavering exhale that most couldn't interpret for what it really was. Finland was it seemed, the only one who knew what it meant whenever he did it. Finland laughed too although to the others it would have sounded like only one person in the back had found humour in something.

"So I ended up opening all the doors and I shooed it out," Finland finished. "But Hanatamago never even chased it. She's so sweet."

Sweden grunted in agreement. Everything about that tiny white dog was too soft to do any harm. She would never have hurt a squirrel despite the stereotype upon her species.

He was having too much fun listening to Finland to want to have them drop off into silence. He shuffled through topics in his mind until he settled on the Swedish default question.

"How's the weather been at your place?"

Sweden slipped his hands into the pocket and smiled in the dark as Finland chuckled. He had found amusement in Sweden asking such a typical question and that made Sweden glad he had done it. Finland then replied good-naturedly, "Well, we've had quite a bit of rain recently."

The gravel under their feet was dry and the air comfortably humid. He stated a question, "It must be nice coming here, then."

"Yeah, for sure!"

Sweden wanted to say even more. He looked for another question but he didn't want to bore Finland with smalltalk. They needed something more interesting to discuss. His thoughts were cut off however, when everyone became distracted by the road ending. A narrow path awaited them which Iceland and Norway were shining their flashlights down. Their beams only went so far, a few tree trunks down, then ended at the wall of darkness. They stepped onto the path and Sweden, who held his light on them, saw them turn to the sides and check around them but not backwards.

"I guess it's really starting now," Finland whispered.

"I guess so."

They followed them in, but at this sort of checkpoint Sweden felt such a compulsion to look behind them. He fought against it because whether or not he would take Denmark's game seriously, he could still play to the rules. It would just be hard if he ever heard anything behind them that he wasn't allowed to check out. An animal or human could still harm them even if this forest was haunted.

Sweden often waved the flashlight side-to-side to check his and Finland's sides. He glanced up occasionally to see what those in front of him were seeing, but it was all the same. In every direction there were only pine trees and beds of fallen needles with sticky branches on top. There was hardly any undergrowth here, just spaced out trees that could allow people to walk anywhere unhindered.

Sweden started to consider then, that because the trees were so far apart that everywhere looked like a path. It would be so easy to walk off in the wrong direction. Sweden touched the phone in his pocket and thought that if they did happen to get lost, then they all at least had their phones. Unless… Sweden pulled out his phone and looked down as he unlocked it.

He had seen too many horror movies. He hoped desperately that they had not just put themselves into the overused plot of wandering into a haunted forest, getting lost, and having all of their phones refusing to function. In his peripheral vision he saw Finland watching him carefully.

"Do you think it would be like that?" Finland inquired.

"I want to be sure," he mumbled back.

"Here." Finland reached up and pulled the flashlight from his grip. Sweden let him take it so that he could busy both his hands with his phone.

Finland perked when his phone blinged. He took his out now and checked it. He smiled when he saw that Sweden had texted him _Hej_. He typed a message back and Sweden stared at his screen as he received _Moi!_ in return.

"Okay, it's nice to know that our phones are working," Finland smiled.

Sweden nodded as Finland put away his phone. Then an idea struck him that he thought could entertain Finland. He quickly typed a message and before he sent it he showed it to him. Finland promptly covered his mouth to prevent a laugh from escaping him.

Sweden sent the message. In front of them Denmark reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone. Finland pointed the light at him and they waited until Denmark yelled out, "Why are you texting me?"

Finland stifled his giggles as Denmark slowly read the text message aloud for Norway and Iceland's benefit, " _There is a spider in your hair_ … What the hell!"

Denmark jumped, dropping his phone, as he batted the back of his head for the nonexistent arachnid. Finland finally burst out laughing and Denmark huffed. He snatched his phone and was on the verge of turning around but Finland gasped, "You can't look back, Denmark!"

"Oh my god!" Denmark groaned and swung back around forward. "I didn't know you could be such a troll, _Sverige_. I'll get you back for that later!"

Finland exhaled and the light was close enough to his face for Sweden to be able to see the tranquil enjoyment on his face. Sweden grew content for this. He put his phone away, tilted his head, and matched Finland's pace.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, listening to Norway and Iceland argue about fish. Sweden found himself regarding Finland below him the entire time, who was not as concerned with checking their sides anymore. Finland pointed the light forward and strolled leisurely after the trio in front of them. Sweden was distracted by the glow on his blonde hair and the bit of face he could see and Finland didn't notice the sharp eyes staring down on him.

Everyone jolted at the snap to their left side. Sweden had no time to react before Finland threw himself in front of him and shone the light in that direction. A rabbit was caught in the beam and it went stalk-still in fright. They all sighed and relaxed. Finland let the light roam away to leave the terror-stricken creature Sweden was left in utter awe. In the moment before they had known that it had only been a rabbit, Finland had jumped between him and the source of the mysterious sound. There had been absolutely no hesitation when he had prepared to protect him.

Words almost escaped him but they didn't because Sweden choked them back although it hurt. Denmark laughed nonetheless, "Wow, what a jumpscare!"

They continued on after surviving the first startlement. Once that had been proven to be nothing to fear, they were not frightened by the other minuscule noises to their sides. When a sound was heard, a flashlight or two went that way but always found nothing concerning. After fifteen minutes of silence, Denmark started humming a song they had heard earlier in the truck. This humming cut off when an owl hooted somewhere close by in the treetops and Denmark immediately did his best to mimic the call.

The owl hooted again but further away this time. Denmark was surprised when Norway gave the call a try. Everyone walked on and waited, then they heard the owl now closer than it had been before, hooting eerily again.

"It's a tawny owl," Norway remarked before he imitated it again.

A gentle breeze kissed them that smelled so clean. The pines rustled around them which allowed for glimpses of stars. Their walk slowed into a crawl as they all stared upwards away from their lights to the sky. Above them a brown shape with white streaks on its underbelly soared by over the pines and they all inhaled with admiration.

"The forest is not bad," Norway whispered as all their eyes were filled with the shine of the stars. "It's beautiful."

The game was forgotten by then. They were excited to hear sounds by them because it could mean there was another critter to be found. On one occasion Finland directed his light at a tree and a single roe deer froze. At his excited whisper, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland turned around. It turned tail and fled but they had all seen it before then.

"I love this place!" Finland proclaimed.

"Turns out it is fun for a completely different reason than intended," Iceland said, mostly to Denmark.

"Yeah, well, that's good, right?" Denmark countered.

Only a minute later however, the pines ended and a field appeared before them. Under the light of the full moon they could see the dozens of tombstones in the graveyard they had come across.

"Um, okay, now I see why they thought it was haunted," Iceland muttered. "Denmark, did you know about this?"

"Yep!"

Denmark led the way past the first row of graves. They slowly followed him in, once again cautious and recalling the rules of the game. The hardest rule to follow: N _ever be afraid_ , was the one they all concentrated on while crossing the hushed graveyard.

Norway pointed his flashlight to their right towards a massive black shape looming at the end of the field. He asked, "Is that a house?"

"Looks like it." Denmark shrugged.

Sweden decided to speak up. "We shouldn't go near it."

"Yes, we better not," Finland seconded.

Denmark turned and moved in the direction of it.

"Hey!" Finland protested.

"No, not that." Denmark waved a hand back at him. "I see something else. An animal I think. Nor, light please?"

Norway shone the light to where Denmark was pointing. Before the light had touched it, they had seen a shadow crouched on top of a tombstone, but when illuminated, a spotted cat was seen sitting neatly and blinking at them.

"Aww!" Denmark cried. "Out of all the animals we've seen, what's a little kitty doing here?"

They lowered the light and all headed toward it like a beacon. The cat did not jump down. It meowed and when Denmark reached out his hand, it sniffed him before rubbing its cheek against his fingers. He started to laugh gleefully as a rumbling purr emanated from it.

"Someone owns that cat," Sweden said.

Finland moved in to pet its back. As they doted over the cat they had found, a light appeared in the silhouette of the looming house. Another one turned on, a porch light, then the five of them saw a door opening. The cat turned its head to stare at the figure that lumbered out into sight on the porch.

" _Leonard_!" an elderly man's voice croaked. The cat launched off the tombstone and raced across the field. The Nordics quickly tried turning off their flashlights, but they knew they had been seen when the voice called out in creaky English, "What are you kids doing back there?"

"Oh! Sorry, Sir!" Denmark yelled back. "We didn't mean any harm! We're just passing through!"

They could see the cat weaving through the man's legs as he exclaimed, "Why are you wandering the forest at night?"

"We're trying that game!" Denmark shouted. "Eteni, you know it?"

"Oh goodness, I should have known! You teenagers are always playing it- none of that is real, let me tell you. I should know!"

"Let's go closer," Norway suggested. "We can talk to him and maybe he'll let us stay the night."

Denmark turned his head to him. "But we don't know him," he pointed out.

"Come on, do you think that old man's going to try to hurt the five of us?" Norway scoffed. "We're the suspicious ones here, you know."

"The cat likes him, if that helps," Finland added.

They passed through the graves until they made it to the illuminated porch. They stepped into the light and let the man see all their faces.

"Hello, young'uns," the man greeted them. "It's a nice night, isn't it?"

"Oh yes," Finland replied, "and the forest is really nice."

"She sure is. But I see that you are all lacking in supplies. Would you like to come in? I have spare rooms, snacks, and drinks."

"Wow, how kind!" Denmark chirped. "Sure- that'd be great! But don't worry about food or drink, we're covered."

They hopped inside to find the opposite of what they would have expected. Once a black, creepy house was now the coziest little shelter. Everything was so antique; the woodwork, carpets, wallpaper, and clocks. There were many picture frames holding mostly black and white photos on the walls and on the mantel, likely of family members long past and buried on this plot of land.

They were led into a living room with a loveseat and an armchair. They left the armchair alone but Norway and Iceland sat on the couch. The rest of them gathered below by their legs and soon the old man came up to the seat they had respectfully left open for him. Denmark unzipped his bag at that time to take out the water bottles and granola bars to pass out to the other four.

"I can't believe you're so nice," Denmark spoke to the man, "when you don't even know us!"

"I figured you were a good bunch," the old man wheezed. "And it does get lonely around these parts."

The ocicat entered the room and climbed into a plush cat bed beside the couch. The armchair creaked as the man shifted into a more comfortable position. The Nordics took the time to unwrap their granola bars and sip the water in the brief lull that lasted before Norway broke it.

"Is the forest haunted?" he asked.

"No, no. People say it is, but I was raised here."

"Are you English?" Denmark inquired.

"Yes, but I've learned enough Danish to use if I have to," the man chuckled. "Which I don't, because the Danes love speaking English whenever they can. My family moved here when I was young and my silly sister eventually came up with the Land of Eteni."

Sweden, along with everyone else in the room it, was surprised to hear how he had pronounced the word. Denmark had been wrong, for it was actually pronounced _eh_ - _tuh_ - _nigh_. English pronunciation for sure, not Scandinavian.

"Why?" Iceland cut in.

"She was a strange one," he sighed. "She hurt herself once and insisted that her spirit had gone to a vast land where the night never ended. She said that an evil being haunts this forest and hunts bad souls to take to the Land of Eternal Night."

Denmark said, "I never read that part on the Internet, but I did read that to survive this forest at night, one had to be a good person."

"I know she wrote all about it online, because she always wanted people to listen to her," he sighed. "Her story was so detailed that I wanted to believe her. She talked about horrifying monsters that tried to turn you into one of them. She gave names to the places, but my memory is always escaping me and I can't for the life of me remember them. What I do know is that in the Land of Eternal Night she had to find the sun to go home. It would have made a good story to publish, but she didn't want anyone to think it was fiction..."

Sweden sipped from his water bottle but kept his eyes locked on the man. Warm water trickled down his dry throat as Iceland asked, "If only bad people are affected, then why did your sister say she went there?"

"Because, she accidentally separated her soul from her body and a being came to collect her. Eva- that's her name, she would explain that it mistook her as a bad person because she had cut herself on a shadow."

"It's so interesting," Norway breezed. "But you don't believe her?"

"Unfortunately, I can't say I do. Just because I've lived here so long and have never had a paranormal experience," he replied. "But the rules for Eteni, that's for that land, not this here forest. You can run and look around anywhere here, don't you worry."

Denmark leaned back into Sweden's legs as he cracked his spine. He yawned, "It's good that we don't have to keep moving like in the rules. I'm beat!"

"If you want to sleep, let me show you your rooms."

The old man lifted himself up. The five Nordics eagerly rose to get to a bed that they hadn't expected they would get at all tonight. Sweden stalked after them once again at the back, taking his time looking around the house that locked them away in warmth. Despite being in the middle of a graveyard, it felt so safe here with the scent of cleaners and cat everywhere. When he heard a creak behind him he looked back and saw nothing more frightening than thin Leonard trotting after them with ears pricked forward in interest.

"Now let me see…" The man stopped in front of a closed door. As he lifted his eyes in thought, the Nordics gathered around him. They watched him raise a fist and his fingers flicked out to stop at three. He explained, "I have three spare bedrooms. Someone could sleep in the armchair if they wanted, but I think that the loveseat is a tad too small to use. What do you think?"

Denmark answered for them, "Sharing isn't a problem for us!"

The door was opened and the first room was revealed. The bed was quite large and covered in a neat duvet. Sweden looked on as Norway and Iceland decided to lay claim to this room. The man quickly told them where they could find the bathroom before the rest of them went on. As they went further down the hall left with two rooms and three people, Sweden was on the inside struggling with the word _maybe_.

The next door swung inwards to reveal a smaller bed that was more suitable for one person, and that was when his heart picked up from anxiety. Should he offer to be alone? Denmark wouldn't want to share with him because there wouldn't be enough room. Denmark and Finland could share, but Sweden's heart ached at the thought of that nostalgic memory of cuddling Finland and he wasn't sure when another chance would arise to get to sleep beside him. Granted he wouldn't do anything. He would lie by himself and _perhaps_ Finland would move closer.

It was so frustrating when he knew nothing about how Finland felt because Sweden never had to courage to say anything about how he felt to him. He nearly harassed himself now about it, for never talking and making himself suffer through situations like this where he didn't want to make a bad move because of his ignorance.

The three of them were left standing there until Finland said, "You can take it, Denmark. I can share with Mr. Sweden."

If he had water in his mouth it would have been spluttered everywhere. Sweden was petrified as he tried to figure out if he had heard correctly. Had Finland really just offered to be with him? Did that mean he didn't mind- or better, wanted to? Sweden swallowed as Finland turned to look up at him and ask, "If that's okay with you, of course!"

"Mm." Sweden nodded while trying to stay poker-faced.

He hoped he wasn't blushing again. He wondered if it would be possible that if Finland wanted to be close or if he had anything to tell him. Or worse- _better_ , if he would confront Sweden and ask him how he felt because no matter how he tried to hide it, Sweden had leaked enough hints. He really did want to him to know. But if tonight, a confession was to be pulled from him… Sweden frantically tried to figure out what he would say and how. This was all so unexpected, nerve-racking, yet delightful. What if this night, on Denmark's crooked idea of a camp trip, his life was going to change?

Denmark went into the room and the man went on down the hall. Their room was much further away from the others and once they had reached the door, Sweden could feel sweat beading on his forehead. He didn't feel ready to say it. Often he had thought that he would just never say it and let the precious friendship they had stay as it was because that alone he loved so much.

"Alright, boys, I'll see you in the morning," the man told them.

"Good- oh wait!" Finland exclaimed. "We never asked for your name!"

He smiled. "It's Tom."

"Goodnight, Tom!"

The cat trailed him back down the hall. Sweden had taken one step into the room when Finland announced, "I'll be back."

Sweden turned his head over his shoulder as Finland departed. He knew that he was going to the bathroom. Sweden looked back forward and made his way up to the window. His face was reflected in the glass and he took a moment to observe himself. He removed his glasses and looked at his blurrier reflection before he wiped the lens on his soft hoodie. He slipped them neatly back up the bridge of his nose then sighed quietly as he looked back at himself.

How could he set up the mood to say it? Should he, or just be passive again? Everything felt so awkward now, at least for him and hopefully not for Finland. He hoped above all that Finland was not uncomfortable, especially if he already knew how Sweden felt about him.

Then Sweden finally noticed beyond his reflection a bush of spectacular roses. The petals comprised the most striking of fiery colours; orange and yellows so brilliantly vibrant glowed against the leaves swathed in shadows. Instantaneously he felt an absolute need to have one, not for himself but to give to Finland. The urge was so powerful that Sweden frantically began rationalizing why he should take one. He started to think that taking one flower shouldn't be bad even if Tom found out because it was just one of many. He could hide it in his pocket and if anything came up tonight, he could give it to Finland. If nothing happened, or if his feelings were rejected even if he did confess, he wouldn't have to reveal the flower.

The roses were simply the most beautiful flowers he had ever seen. He hadn't ever seen them in this colour before and he was tantalized. He needed one. Just one couldn't be bad, he kept thinking mechanically. Seeing as the bush was only paces away from the window, he thought too that he would have the time. Sweden threw open the window, took off his socks, then slipped out to land on the dark grass of the graveyard.

The same cool breeze blew over him as he hurried past gravestones and came up to the bush planted between two graves. Sweden's eyes widened as he came nearer, beguiled by how the roses seemed to give off their own light. They were like pretty, little fires. He touched his fingers over some petals, expecting to feel warmth only to find they were the same temperature as the air. He slipped his hand down to pluck one of them, but when his hand enclosed the night-black stem, scarlet broke from the skin grazed by thorns.

He hadn't been able to see them in the darkness. He let go instinctively but as he stepped back, he felt himself growing exponentially dizzy. His head buzzed and he could hardly think as his body swayed. He fell over onto a tombstone, whacking his head off it before he collapsed over the grave, sprawled out on his back. He tried to pull in his arms to push himself up, but he was startled to find that he couldn't move a muscle.

 _Why can't I move?_ The thought looped through his mind, faster and faster as he panicked. This fear increased as he felt himself rising although his body stayed completely still. Very soon he was stumbling backwards and staring at himself on the ground. Realization began to hit and he dove onto his self to no avail. He went through his body and lay on the ground he could not feel, but he did not reconnect.

Sweden stood up and stared around himself fearfully, desperately trying to figure out what to do. He turned back to the bush and tried to touch the flowers and thorns, but his hand went through everything no matter how desperately he clawed. Minutes past by and then Sweden froze when he heard through the opened window, Finland inquisitively calling for him. He whirled around and saw him approaching the window. Sweden watched his eyes find his fallen body before he screamed out this time, "Sweden!"

Finland leapt out the window and raced to him. Sweden hovered by, clutching at himself as he watched Finland feeling his hand over his neck to search for a pulse. It was then Sweden saw his own chest rising and falling as he breathed, and Finland noticed it too. He was not dead, but he was not responsive.

Finland gasped when his hand rubbed against the bit of blood in his hair and instantly Finland was crying out, "Denmark! Norway! Iceland!"

Sweden could see that Finland was terrified because he didn't know what to do. Finland was trembling as he knelt beside him and shook his body.

"What happened?" Finland whimpered. "Wake up…"

Sweden twitched as he felt a tingling in his spine. He slowly turned away from Finland to look behind him towards the forest. From behind a black tree he saw a white face with large, empty orbits very slowly peek out. Sweden choked and froze in fright as two skeletal arms reached out and long, opening fingers pointed towards him. He skittered away from his body as half a skeleton floated towards him with an overly long, black cloak flowing behind it. Once it came into the field he regained his senses and fled around the house.

Sweden had to find a way back into his body- he did not want to be taken away to that Land of Eternal Night. What if he couldn't get out and he would be doomed to stay there forever? He couldn't bear to be separated from them. Especially from Finland and on a night that was supposed to be so important. He had to lose this creature, get back to his body, and figure something out...

He sped by the Nordics leaping out of the front door at full speed. Denmark and Iceland turned around the corner as he did, then Sweden whipped by Norway. He had taken a look at them all, and while Denmark and Iceland had only charged onward, Norway skidded to a halt with a gasp and he looked back. Sweden could not stop now however; he looked back and saw the monster keeping pace with him by flying silently forward with arms still extended and fingers spread. He dove around the other corner of the house and looked for some place to hide, but all that was available to him were the trees.

Sweden dove into the forest and pelted through pines. When he looked back he could no longer see the skeleton pursuing him.

 _I need distance, then maybe Norway can save me. Then I can go back to my room, and maybe tell Finland-_

Sweden hollered when bones and cloth dropped down in front of him. Empty sockets neared his face until they were centimetres away from his own huge eyes. A low, despairing moan escaped the monster. It lay icy fingers on his shoulder then with the other skeletal hand, it grabbed its own cloak and in one smooth motion wrapped it entirely around Sweden.

He smelled wet rot and felt himself spinning like he was in a tornado of ice chips. Everything was cold and painful. He screamed but he no longer knew where he was and therefore did not know who could hear him. Sweden knew he was going far away, to be tucked away in a forgotten place. When the pain ended he knew that he was nowhere; the most horrifying of somewheres.

The first thing he saw were many pricks of white light. When he realized his eyes were open and this was what he was seeing, he recognized them as stars. He quivered as he stared around himself and saw that he was standing alone on top of a mountain. When he looked over the sheer edge he saw a plain that stretched out far for kilometres in every direction.

Then he tilted his head up and faced the massive full moon staring back at him. Or perhaps, it was not so big. Sweden reached up high and he touched the little moon hovering there.

It did not feel like rock. The white surface was smooth like a polished bone.

And this let him know exactly what kind of place he had been taken to.


	3. Across the Starlit Plain

_Don't tell the gods I left a mess_

 _I can't undo what has been done_

 _Let's run for cover_

* * *

Sweden cautiously crept down a thin, precarious path in an attempt to get off the mountain. Even though the moon was small and it was night, the darkness was so light. He could see well enough everything around him, although it was still dark enough to allow shadows to lie over the surfaces. He saw where he put his feet but the obscure atmosphere was perpetually foreboding.

The way was so steep that he had to lean back and hold out his arms to keep himself from tumbling down over the edge. Large rocks occasionally blocked the path that he would slowly step over, but one was so tall and wide he had to climb over it. Once at the top of this rock he looked down fearfully at the even narrower path below. He hesitated but then stuck his legs together and slid down with his teeth bared.

Gravel jumped over the drop and his eyes followed their descent. At this moment Sweden became aware of a pulsing inside him that felt like a heartbeat in his chest. He realized too that he had been breathing. Did he need to breathe? Perhaps not, but he wanted to. Just like he wanted his heart to keep beating. It reminded him that he was alive, or at least- had a life to return to.

Sweden landed neatly on the path and continued on ever downwards. The path looped around the mountain as a hazardous spiral which only gained more obstacles to manage. Sweden saw gaps up ahead on the trail before him which he had to leap over. The sides of the mountain were too smooth for him to grab onto and climb sideways over the drops, thus he grew nervous to find that each next gap was larger than the last and each jump was increasingly more difficult.

His heart, if that is what he could call it, picked up as he sprinted toward each one and sailed over them, suspended over each fatal fall for long seconds. His feet skidded over a ledge and he gasped as he scrambled forward to get secure footing. He looked straight ahead and grimaced when he saw that the next gap was naturally greater. Sweden glanced at the useless walls and he wondered how he could possibly make the next jump if he had barely made the last one.

Sweden approached the edge to calculate the distance that was hard to determine on such a steep slope. He took overly large steps and counted them, but it was not looking good. The amount of room he had to build up speed was even less than the other times.

Once at the edge he looked down and inhaled sharply. Fifty metres below him was not another path, but the ground- although on that ground lay a massive pile of contorted bodies. The stench of rot wafted up and he could see from here the grey, blue, and green colouration of them. At first he thought that his eyes were deceiving him, but then he became sure that these bodies were squirming. His jaw tightened. He had never seen corpses move because in the world he was accustomed to they were not _supposed_ to. He wondered what else they could do.

It was likely that he would encounter some in the flat field out there that were not as broken as the ones crawling over each other down there. His small hairs raised. He was safe where he was right now but who knew what would happen while traversing a seemingly unending plain? If the corpses below him were from those who had fallen, he knew he could die. And when people died here, they became one of those monsters.

Forever.

 _But I have to find the sun_ , he thought as he turned his head to look out into the starlit plain. _It might be beyond the field._

He had to leave the mountain and go out there despite the risks. This would be his motivating goal to hold on to so he could stay focused as a rule had dictated.

 _Find the sun. Go home._

He had already found the moon. Sweden tried remembering the other things Tom had said that could help him know where to go, but Tom had forgotten so much that all Sweden really knew was that this land was apparently vast. How vast, would remain to be seen.

 _He said that the monsters try to turn you into one of them._

Sweden looked back down to the corpses. They had killed themselves, but did they have the power to change him into one of them as well? Did it take a bite, like in any stereotypical zombie movie, or did he only have to die in this world? He didn't know the answer yet, but he knew he could not fall.

Sweden went back up the trail. He made it back to where the last gap ended, then he turned around. He breathed deeply and some of Denmark's words filtered back into his mind.

 _There are seven rules to survive Eteni._

That was right. Sweden stood for a few seconds as he tried to recall the other ones.

 _Never be afraid._

So he shouldn't be afraid right now. To clear the gap, he would have to be calm and focused, the latter of which he had already been since he had arrived here. A rule had dictated however, that he could not run. Perhaps that only meant _run away_ as nothing bad had happened to him yet for sprinting up to each gap. But still, it was hard to not be afraid when this jump would determine if he would spend his eternity in the Land of Eternal Night as a twitching, decaying cadaver.

 _But I can make this jump. I have to. There is no choice._

He started to run.

 _I will find the sun… I want to see them again._

As determination built up inside him, he felt the speed coming naturally. He felt like a knife slicing through the air as the wind whooshing by his ears sounded like screams. Sweden was certain he had never run this fast before. His fear- he was not only outrunning it but he felt so light inside without a single thing to weigh him down.

Five more steps.

 _I will see him again._

Sweden launched over the edge but only looked forward. All he could see however, instead of the rocks of the mountain, was the solid image of Finland in his mind's eye. Sweden held onto that picture of him smiling, letting warm hope blossom in his chest that he would make another smile come from him again.

He remembered the world when his feet slammed on the ground. Sweden whipped his head back only to be amazed to find that the gap was several metres away from where he had landed. He had not only just made it; he had conquered this jump more than any other one before it. He closed his eyes. Hundreds had fallen, but he had not. Could he survive then, if he handled every obstacle the way he had?

Sweden dug his hands into the front pouch instinctively but then noticed what he was doing. He was still wearing the gray hoodie that Finland had bought him. He had hardly paid attention to the clothes he had appeared here with on, but at this exact moment he was sure that he had never worn anything more comfy in his entire life. He tightened his arms to his body and dipped his face into the sweater.

Sweden moved on with his hands still in the large pocket. The air was a tad cool, but he felt so warm and calm now. To add to this, there were no more gaps to hop and the path was no longer so steep as he moved forward. His resolve ossified as he finally felt some control leak back into his clutches.

If he was to escape this place, he wanted to go back and make sure that he would say everything that he had kept to himself for so long. He could not continue on in silence again until it was too late to say all the words he wanted to say. As his eyes darted around, scanning for danger, Sweden decided to add to his goal.

He wanted to make himself a promise.

 _When I escape, I will tell Finland how I feel about him._

He padded ever downwards and the drop to his side became shorter and shorter. Directly after deciding upon his promise however, the sweater felt even softer and his chest like it was melting from warmth. He wanted to stop walking because of how much he only wanted to lie down and cuddle something. If he were not here but in his room, a pillow certainly would have been squeezed. Completely overwhelmed by content and amusement from his own thoughts, he could not prevent his lips from lifting the few degrees that it did upwards.

As he neared the bottom, he made sure to check over the side of the mountain for anything moving. He hadn't seen anything since the massive pile of squirming bodies but he supposed that was all well. The less strange things he encountered, the better. Sweden strolled down the path that straightened out and headed directly for the grass. Once with both his feet planted on flat ground though, he felt much more exposed and helpless. For kilometres he could see nowhere to hide and only such long distances to run…

 _But I can't run away. I can't fight either…. How I am supposed to defend myself?_

Maybe it was impossible to fight them and they were too fast to escape if they weren't crippled. Survival might be based on stealth. Sweden quietly but briskly set away from the mountain straight from where the path had ended. He had no intention of sweeping around the mountain after seeing what he had seen. Sweden only hoped that he was heading in the right direction.

He strained his ears to catch the slightest of sounds. A wind blew periodically over the short grass, momentarily drowning out other noises. He didn't like when it came. Sweden looked around himself and eventually, snuck a glance back over his shoulder. He thought that perhaps the rules were not a strict as they had seemed. After all, he had already run and nothing had happened because of it.

He saw the mountain towering over him. When he turned more, he saw the tiny moon floating beside the peak. He had been up there beside it. He had been standing there and already it looked so far away and felt so long ago. How long had it taken to get down? The moon was in its one spot and the night never ended. Sweden had absolutely no concept of time.

There was nothing else to do but move forward. He was not supposed to stop regardless of because of the rule, _Never stop moving_. He had to do this to survive and reach the end of the world.

 _I don't know how long it will take to cross this field, but I will do it._

One foot went after the other in an infinite pattern. For a long time he mindlessly went while seeing nothing else in this land but the field and stars. Ignoring the mountain, this place was so far not so bad. He had travelled across places in the real world that had looked like this, and with Finland. Sweden tried to imagine Finland beside him now but only ended up recalling old memories.

He settled on them for now but after a while of thinking about lying down beside Finland and going to sleep was making him tired. With the night sky above him and all the walking he had done, it felt natural to stop to rest. Sweden fixed his mind on that one rule stating that he had to keep moving, but he couldn't help but wonder if something would happen to his body if he didn't sleep, just like if he were to stop breathing.

Sweden pushed on, thinking that the drowsiness might pass if he ignored it. That sort of worked, but he could never shake off the urge to lie down on the grass to rest. It just kept adding heavy weights to him and after hundreds of paces kept passing, he just found his feet dragging more and more. His eyelids dropped on their own and he had to fight to raise his chin and widen his eyes. Sweden swayed lethargically under the undying light of the stars. So rarely had he ever come to be this tired and even the threat of zombies in the field started to be forgotten.

A yawn broke out and he looked around himself in order to see if it would be alright to lie down here for just a little while. By glancing around himself however, he noticed a silhouette in the distance with a human form. Sweden's fatigue faded as he became instantly wary although the thing did not limp or float. In fact, it had a good posture and it was moving in his direction confidently. Perhaps it was another person? If that was the case, he could get information that would greatly aid him.

Sweden turned and headed to the figure, going through the rules in his mind again as he neared it. Eventually he could see the details of the figure in the dim light and knew that it was a man slightly shorter than him wearing a black suit and tie. His white undershirt glowed now as Sweden got closer to him and his polished shoes had a glimmer from the starlight.

This man was to first to speak, calling out to Sweden, "Hey there, stranger!"

Sweden didn't know what to say. He looked normal and he could talk, so he didn't seem like a threat. Sweden watched his movements carefully however as they came closer.

"Big guy, ain't ya?" The man stopped. Sweden stopped too. They were three metres apart now. "And you're new, I assume?"

"What is this place?" he asked.

The man's face was so blank that Sweden could not figure out his intentions. His voice was so steady although he was trying to come across as friendly, thus Sweden kept his guard on high.

"Well." The man huffed out his nose. "Ignorance is bliss."

Sweden just stared. The man sighed in annoyance for having to explain.

"Look," he said. "You've landed yourself in Purgatory, bud."

"I'm not supposed to be here."

The man in the suit coughed out a laugh. "Damn, and did you also yell 'I didn't do it!' up there?"

Sweden lowered his brows and tilted his head. "I am serious."

The man lifted his hands in a nonthreatening way as he said, "Alright, I got ya."

"Where's the sun?" Sweden wanted to get to the point. He didn't like standing around and being here any longer than he wanted to.

The man pointed behind him. "Back there is a forest," he said. "That's where people try to go, because there's nothing here and bad things pop up if you stop moving for too long. So I assume that we have to explore beyond the forest. Finding a sun- yeah, that makes sense because we appeared under the moon. Maybe the sun is in the forest?"

Sweden inquired, "Then why are you here and not there?"

"Because," he sighed. "There is a part in the field that is hard to get through. I have seen the forest but haven't been able to get close to it. I need help. Are you up to it?"

Having someone leading him in the right direction was good, but Sweden didn't want to agree so readily with a stranger.

"What do I have to do?" he asked the man.

"There is a part in the field where there are shadows. If you don't watch them, they creep up on you. If we go back to back, we can both go through. How does this sound to you?"

"Okay," he rumbled.

"Perfect." A smile crept across the man's face. "Let's go then!"

The man turned around and Sweden followed him. He did not want to pass him and be in front, so Sweden kept just slightly behind and to the side. While he had been talking to this man, his tiredness had faded, but was starting to return now.

Sweden asked, "What happens if you try to sleep?"

"Never sleep," was the reply. "My companion tried doing it but then… he started to rot."

Sweden thought about the pile of corpses. A chill ran down his spine and he wanted to look behind himself. Before doing so, he posed another question.

"When can we look back?"

"What do you mean? Whenever you want." The man in the suit looked to the side at him strangely.

Sweden wasn't sure how much he could trust this man. He could have been relatively new here like him so he wouldn't understand how everything worked. The rules seemed more reliable for they came from someone who had escaped this land, despite how vague they were. Sweden was confused however, because the shadows attacked if one didn't look back at them. Were the rules wrong, or the man? He could only move forward because to not do so would accomplish nothing.

 _Risks like these are necessary_ , Sweden reminded himself.

Knowing about what happens when one sleeps helped Sweden stay awake. He thought about how much he wanted to go back and that returned the energy to him that he had been losing. His legs found strength and he headed on at a brisk pace with his head up.

They didn't talk for a long time. Sweden could not know how long they had been walking, but he assumed it was for hours. He looked up to the sky at times, taking a look at the stars up there that he knew were not true stars yet were nonetheless tantalizing. They invited him to stay, tempting him to lie on the grass and look up at them until he fell asleep. He only admired them though.

The man came to a stop beside a boulder. Sweden halted as well to be told, "It was around here. We have to proceed carefully now. I'll go to the front and you can watch our backs."

Sweden nodded once. He turned around and faced the way they came. He saw nothing in that direction except for the towering, sharp mountain so far away in the distance. He couldn't see the little moon from here, but he wondered if anyone else was under it now. Sweden hooked his arms with the shorter man's so that their backs pressed against each other's.

"Slowly now," he told Sweden. "Now watch out for dark spots on the ground."

They continued on at half speed. Sweden peered past his glasses through the darkness to look for any deeper black splotches on the grass. Another hour seemed to go by with them like this, but he hadn't caught sight of any of these foretold "dark spots". Nothing moved either to catch his attention, although he wondered if it was because he was doing such a good job of scanning the sides and back.

"Have you seen anything yet?" Sweden mumbled.

"Are you kidding me?" he gasped. "Can't you see that we're surrounded?"

Sweden tried peering more carefully as they moved forward. He still couldn't see any difference in shade over the grass they were treading on. He tried hard to as he turned his head side-to-side, but another long period of time passed and he still couldn't see what was supposed to be there.

Sweden stiffened when he heard a low moan. His eyes sharpened but he still only glared where he was told to. However he demanded, "What was that?"

"It's okay. Don't be scared," the man uttered. "We're fine."

Sweden could hear more drawn out moans of various tones. Different sources. They kept walking, and he heard more and more voices that just got louder and louder. His ears started to ache and he commanded his heart to calm itself. He checked the grass and thought of his promise to distract himself, but the sounds were getting so loud that it seemed to shake him and the ground. His head rung and he felt the man starting to tremble against him.

Yet still he could see _nothing_. What was in front of them? Sweden wanted to know. He wanted to turn around.

"What is that?" Sweden unhooked one arm and began to turn. The man grabbed his arm back in a quaking hold and snapped, "You can't turn around! You have to look back to protect us!"

The mass of moans was so close now. It was deafening. Sweden couldn't handle the ignorance anymore. He detached himself and whirled around.

A horde of limping cadavers were advancing toward them. Sweden hardly had time to gawk before the man dove at Sweden's legs. He leapt back in surprise but the man managed to hook an arm behind his leg and Sweden hollered when a sharp stone cut the tendons behind his knee. He collapsed instantly onto the ground where he looked up to his assailant with a face petrified by shock.

The man danced around him when Sweden tried to grab his ankle. The man hopped away and threw the rock at him. Sweden grunted when it bounced off his ribs just as the man took the time to shriek back at him, "Sucker!"

Sweden understood now what had occurred. He had been tricked to serve as bait so that the group of zombies would close in on him and give the man the opportunity to go around them and get a head start. They had been blocking his way, so the man had looked for someone like him to use. Someone new who didn't understand how this world worked.

The brown, tattered bodies scrambled forward in excitement. Sweden pulled himself with difficulty onto his one leg and gasped in fright and pain. He saw the man skip away from him, breaking out into a full-out sprint once some of the zombies directed their attention onto him. Sweden hobbled after him with his teeth exposed in a grimace, but he lost his balance and yelled as he slammed against the ground again.

From his position on the grass however, Sweden saw something extraordinary happen. As the man bolted by the corpses, they stopped limping. Their legs gained unimaginable power and turned into a blur beneath them. In a moment the horde turned and chased down the man in the suit with ease. Sweden stared on with wide eyes as the man was tackled and went down screaming beneath a growing dogpile of corpses.

He heard disturbing crunches and wet tearing noises. Sweden saw through the cluster of wiggling, brown bodies, black teeth gnashing and deep, empty sockets all staring down at one particular spot. Sweden swallowed then looked to his side to see rotted, stick legs standing still next to his fallen body.

Sweden inhaled and pulled himself carefully up into a standing position once more.

 _Do not run. Do not fight._

Sweden slowly limped forward. He averted his gaze from the eyeless faces that turned to follow his advancing form. As he gently bumped past each decayed shoulder, he kept his eyes on the expansive field and the line of darkness beyond that he was sure to be the forest.

Sweden heard soft moans by his ears and teeth clacking. They wanted to overwhelm him. They moved slightly, raising their arms and grazing their soggy fingers down his arms. When he inhaled he nearly choked on the gut-twisting stench that reminded him where he was even if his mind tried to wander.

One stepped out in front of him, but without really looking at it, Sweden put his hands on it and used it as support for balance as he hopped around it. He was nearly out of them by now. He was past the halfway point, already having had pushed past the thickest of the crowd. In his peripheral vision he saw the other half of the horde return to join the main group and Sweden turned his head slightly to see them regarding him with opened mouths. Among them, he saw the man, now in a ripped suit and perforated body. His eyes were gone and his face was darkening as Sweden stared. Not a drop of blood stained him, but those bloodless cuts on him were turning black.

The torn tie fell off him. Sweden looked back forward and moved past the last line of zombies. He kept going, imagining that they were following him but trying to think of anything else but fear. He had walked through them so he was sure that as long as he was calm, they wouldn't attack. So to accomplish this, Sweden thought once more of how nice this sweater was. He tucked his mouth under the fabric again and put both his hands into the front pouch.

The touch of the creatures had left no stains on him. He had felt oils, but they were gone now. He and his clothes were clean and nice-scented. It was as though he hadn't been where he had just been. What was better was that as he moved, the cut behind his knee started to heal. Sweden regained control of the leg a bit later and could walk on it again. Slowly at first, but gradually getting better.

Sweden watched the forest draw near. He was starting to make out the shapes of individual trees now and he heard no moans or footsteps behind him. Things were looking up. His confidence in himself only solidified further.

He noticed soon a group of four figures sitting on the ground. Sweden planned on going around them but they jumped up and dashed toward him. They were close enough that he could see that they were not monsters like the ones he had just encountered, but in their hands he saw spears and javelins. Sweden immediately ran but heard behind him a woman's voice exclaiming, "Whoa, fella! How did you get this far by yourself?"

Sweden stopped and looked back. The group was slowing down and waving their weapons in salutation. He broadened his shoulders and glared as they came nearer to make them think twice if they were planning on attacking him. Yet inside he was more inclined to believe that the group was kind, seeming so as they lowered their arms to let the wooden weapons bounce harmlessly off their legs. He kept wary though because of his last experience, but did think that a group of mixed ages could be trusted. He still wanted more information no matter what and maybe he could travel with them for the extra protection.

"Yeah!" a teenage boy cried in agreement to what the woman had said. "There were so many zombies back there, dude. How even?"

He decided to answer them, "I walked through them."

"No way!" the third member of the party gasped.

Sweden looked over their heads to the forest. It was still another good kilometre away. Seeing that this group had stopped, he considered that there might be a reason for not approaching the forest.

"I want to go through the forest," he stated. Now he waited for a warning or protest, which he soon received.

"Hold up!" the fourth person yelped. "You'll never make it through!"

"Why?" Sweden muttered.

"Th-the things…" The teenage boy had lost his excitement. "We couldn't make it and we lost…"

"We need a larger group," the woman stated, "to fight them off."

"Don't fight them," Sweden grumbled. "You won't win."

The woman went silent and blinked at him. At that time, the fourth speaker shot out his javelin to point as he shouted, "Holy, what's with your leg?"

The others went to the side to lower their eyes upon the almost healed cut behind Sweden's knee. Sweden turned his leg out to the side to see what they were so awed by. He was shocked to find that instead of blood pouring from him, golden light was shining out.

"Why is it like that?" the boy cried. "It's gold and not black!"

 _Black?_

The woman's face wrinkled but then it cleared as though an eraser had gone over it. She looked up into Sweden's eyes and asked breathily, "You… how did you get here?"

Sweden blinked. He hesitantly replied, "I was drawn by a flower, but when I cut myself on the thorns, I ended up here."

Her breathing increased. Her eyes grew a frantic look to them that was beginning to concern Sweden. He slowly tensed his muscles as the others started to click onto something and were also looking at him with hungry excitement.

"So you're saying," she gasped out, "that you're _alive_?"

He was uncomfortable about his cut that they were now staring at without shame. He took a step back and noticed that two of the group were heading in behind him.

"Give us your light," she rasped.

Sweden jumped as the weapons all around him shot out. He hissed in pain as a spear sank into his side and light trickled out from the wound. Sweden ripped it out from him then barged through the group to stumble back out into open space. He glanced back as he heard the woman scream, "Give us your life! We want it! Give some light to us!"

Her fingernails scratched his flesh as she tried to grab his arm. Sweden launched forward into a run as he heard her snarl with rage. The others screamed out in desperation and a javelin sailed past him to sink into the ground by one of his feet. Sweden pelted away on a beeline to the forest and he heard the group swearing and struggling to keep up in their chase. He threw his head over his shoulder eventually to see how far behind they were but found that they were slowing down.

The forest loomed before them and now Sweden saw that they had stopped running entirely. He observed the terror on their faces before they turned tail and fled. Sweden stopped for a second to look forward at the forest of tall pines that reminded him so much of the forest he had just explored with the other Nordics. It was as dark in there as Goldheart Forest had been at night, although now he had no flashlight.

He glanced back to the group as the woman screeched from afar, "Idiot! You'll die if you go in there!"

One of them aimed another javelin at him. It pushed Sweden into his decision. He left the field behind to dive into the utterly silent forest.

* * *

 **Song lyrics in chapters are from "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. This song won Sweden first place in the Eurovision Song Contest of 2015.**


	4. Lost Dreams and Quiet Water

_What if I'm the only hero left?_

 _You better fire off your gun_

 _Once and forever_

* * *

The forest swallowed him up from sight from the group of people. Despite what he had been told about this place, he was glad to have gotten away from them. His experiences so far with the humans of Purgatory had all been unpleasant and now he decided that he would go out of his way to avoid them. Sweden could only trust himself here.

He moved through the trees without taking so much care to look around himself for monsters. Understanding the rules more now, Sweden knew that he would be safe as long as he didn't panic. He didn't need to run from monsters or fight them- only the people, although in his mind they were no more or less monsters themselves.

Sweden was beginning to have a hard time moving forward however. The farther into the forest he went, the less stars he could see above. Eventually there were no stars and the darkness thickened. Sweden put his hands out in front of him to save him from crashing into every tree that stood before him. The soft bumps of his body touching the pines and his feet shuffling over the floor of fallen needles were the only sounds he could hear. His breathing rang in his ears and he wished he had someone to talk to in order to help distract him from his building stress.

He missed the other Nordics so much. He thought back to his last night in the other world, walking through the woods that resembled this one so much. He hadn't wanted to follow Denmark initially, but if the same situation was presented again to him he would have gladly done it a second time. He loved having Finland beside him and laughing with him as they went along listening to Denmark, Iceland, and Norway. Sweden wanted to have a flashlight and look for animals with them but there was no one here now and there were no cracks or thumps emanating from his sides. No owls hooted and there was no end to these trees. He held his side and sighed. He never felt so isolated before or so lonely.

Sweden felt the clothes and skin over his injured oblique closing up. The light cut off and no longer escaped him. He assumed that was good, but the fact that his light was golden and different than the others' was intriguing. It seemed it was only because he was alive and not dead like them, and it didn't mean that the sun he was looking for was actually in him. If it was, Sweden was sure that Tom would have said that. He hadn't though, saying that his sister had needed to travel far to find it. The way home was not meant to be so simple.

 _Purgatory is the place people go to relieve their sins_ , Sweden thought, assuming that the man in the suit had been telling the truth about one thing. _I am supposed to prove that I should go back. That is why I have to survive these challenges. They will try to discourage me and try my internal strength… it will be hard but I have already survived two tests because I have a strategy._

A strategy that included that he think primarily of Finland to stay calm. The activities he wanted to do with Finland and the special words he wanted to tell him when he got back. It was more than enough motivation to keep him strong and distracted when surrounded by horrifying supernatural creatures. The sweater as well acted as a shock blanket to soothe his tried mentality.

Sweden crashed into another pine tree. He ran his hands around it then moved on with his hands back out in front of him. He peered harder through the increasing darkness to see the outline of the next tree before he hit it. As he slipped his fingers over the rough bark, he heard a swish over the pine needles behind him: the first noise he had heard since entering the forest.

He inhaled deeply and continued on forward. He knew that at a time like this he shouldn't look back at whatever was undoubtedly behind him. He would have regained his composure immediately if it weren't for the gray form he saw and heard sliding by ten metres to his side. The sounds stopped. Sweden kept moving but he could feel unnatural eyes following his every movement.

Sweden searched for the next tree. He heard the sliding sounds pick up again but moving at an angle to come closer to him. He felt his heart pick up. He knew he couldn't be afraid but the more he thought about how important it was to remain calm, the more stressed he became. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see how close the gray figure was to him now. Sweden felt his way through the trees, touching the hard bark until his hand pressed against something overly soft.

His heart jumped. Under his hand the thing moved toward him. Sweden shuffled backwards and opened his eyes. So close now he could make out a shrivelled and soggy brown cadaver clothed in a long, soiled wedding dress. It dragged through the needles as the corpse rapidly stumbled after him. Sweden clenched his teeth as every ounce of him screamed at him to run but instead he shifted to the side to avoid it. It launched at him and Sweden gasped when it latched onto his front and a lopsided face with drooping eyes and mouth came close.

Reflexively he shoved it off him in his startlement. A mistake. Before he could comprehend what had happened he was knocked to the ground and the corpse was crawling over him. Sweden writhed and automatically decaying teeth shot out and clamped onto his throat. He instinctively screamed but when the creature bit further into him, Sweden forced himself to stop.

 _Calm down, calm down, calm down!_

He had to come up with something. Thinking about calming down or dying only made him panic further. The rotting face withdrew to turn and dive down to decisively and slowly tear into the muscle by his neck.

 _Finland. Just think of him. Something…_

He knew what to do. Sweden was going to think of all the things that made Finland happy then plan how to make them all happen again.

 _He likes strange candy._

Chiefly licorice-based candy. Salmiakki was a go-to that even Sweden had quite a bit of in his country. In fact, he had all kinds of salty treats that Finland would like. Perhaps he could make a special box and put one of each different colour and flavor of candy in there. Could he make a game out of it? Cover each one with a lid in that container, like a Christmas chocolate Advent calendar. Then he would have to eat the one he had revealed and wouldn't know what the other flavours were until he had tried them all.

And Christmas. Finland's favorite holiday. Sweden wouldn't use the candy for a Christmas present but could do something else. Maybe because Finland was so busy, Sweden could come over and cook and bake everything for him? He could practice beforehand Finnish recipes to make sure he was well prepared for that day. Sweden now imagined a table full of wonderful things, so much there that they would need Norway, Denmark, and Iceland to help eat it all. That would be nice. Sweden wanted to celebrate Christmas with them all very much now.

No fresh harm was being inflicted on him. Sweden carefully slid his hands under the dead bride and moved her off him as he thought about what else he could do with Finland outside of holiday celebrations. There were a lot of things Finland liked about winter. He absolutely loved saunas for one, and was always so chatty and relaxed once in one with him. It made Sweden believe that he must like it more when someone else is there with him, or else he would be without someone to talk to. He definitely would have to visit more often for this purpose.

Sweden was on his feet continuing on in the same direction as before. He saw the glimmer of golden light escaping his shoulder and neck, distracting him.

 _I've been bitten._

It just clicked. The man in the suit had been bitten and now he had too. Sweden choked as he thought that he might just soon turn into a zombie as well. Did he feel any different? His heart picked up as he thought that perhaps he was feeling more and more tired. He was sure he was infected. He couldn't see in the dark but it felt as though rot was creeping over his skin from his wounds.

Sweden heard the sliding again. The corpse was following him once again and the faster his heart picked up, the closer it came.

Elongated fingers twisted like old branches and colder than ice rested on his shoulders. Sweden heard a weak rasp by his ear as it opened its mouth. He was terrified again and fighting his emotions desperately. He was at a loss until a razor-sharp thought sliced through it all.

 _No._

He was being paranoid. He would not turn from the bites and he was only imagining the symptoms. Sweden let his face go blank as he respired carefully.

 _Keep going._

He had to think of more. The areas numbing under the grip of the dead fingers helped him come up with another thing to add to his list.

Finland was great at enduring the cold. He could wear T-shirts and shorts on days when the ground was frosted over and insist that it was warm enough. What more, he rolled in the snow once spending too much time in the sauna. He jumped into icy water for fun and they had done it together before, stepping into a hole in a frozen-over lake. Sweden remembered being so grateful to wrap himself up in a dry travel after, although Finland had stepped out with the biggest smile on his face, telling him about how refreshing it was.

He was so crazy. So strong. Sweden wanted to tell him these things so many times but had never found the courage to speak up. Finland was sweet but his spirit was so hardened deep down that no one could break him. Sweden couldn't help but admire that so profoundly. Finland fought so hard for his independence and he had beaten Russia despite the numbers. He would treat everyone kindly but if anyone ever had the audacity to push him, he would push back harder.

Sweden would jump into as many lakes as Finland wanted them to when he got back. They could go inside to warm up and someone would make something hot to drink. If things were to change once he got back, it would be the ideal time to sit beside him with their cups of cocoa and a blanket thrown over them both. He could practically feel that warmth now. Once their cups were empty they could be set down and Sweden could slip his arms around Finland. It would be so delightful, more than this sweater by far. Under his touch would be something tender and sweet-smelling, happy and alive.

And what would he say to him? He always wanted to tell Finland how much fun he had around him even though his tongue could never move like he wanted to form those words. As it was when they had spent New Year's together, he wanted to say nice things to Finland but had been too embarrassed to speak. Back in the forest, when Finland had jumped out to protect him, he had wanted to say right then at that moment how much he admired him and would do anything in the world for him.

Now he had to. When Sweden got back, he was going to say those words. He was going to risk it all to be honest to Finland because he deserved to know the truth. If Finland felt the same, then Sweden would make sure to tell him again. And again, and again- whenever they were close, alone, and cozy- how he loved him, had loved him for centuries, and would always love him.

The coldness on his shoulders was gone. Sweden no longer heard the dragging behind him and now everything in front of him that he touched was solid trees. He confidently picked up his pace, swerving around trees left and right and trying to keep himself going straight. Thinking of that, he decided to see if he could get an idea of how large the forest was. Sweden searched for a tree that was thin enough, then he shimmied his way up it until he could see over the dark treetops.

The forest seemed to stretch on without an end. Behind him, Sweden saw the mountain on the edge of the horizon as a tiny triangle. It would take longer to get through the forest than it had crossing the field. Sweden slid back down to the ground and dusted himself off. Sticky sap and bark clung to him, but because he did not want it there he was surprised to find that it stopped clinging to him. By now Sweden's wounds were as well healed and he was back to how he had looked before.

 _I can appear however I like_ , he realized. That was why the stench and oils of the zombies never stayed on him. He could not be soiled. No matter what touched him, even if it felt and smelled as real as it would in the natural world, it would not change him for long. He was a spirit, and the form he was, was exactly what he wanted to be- how he had been the day he had touched the enchanting flowers. Sweden had not wanted anything to change. He loved who he was and he wouldn't have wanted to have anything else on him but that special sweater.

He lifted his chin. He fixed the glasses on his nose and he plucked a few pine needles hanging on a low branch. Sweden held them up and slowly inhaled their sharp scent. The memories that came to him induced euphoria and he grew excited. Sweden wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

He started to jog. He pushed past the trees and felt accomplishment for every tree he passed, for ever metre less of the forest left to cross. Sweden ran faster, bumbling around trees and feeling his thumping in his chest. He sprinted until he was too tired to. He jogged for what seemed like forever, then he slowed into a walk. Often he climbed more trees to make sure he was heading the right way. When he saw the mountain becoming even smaller in the distance, he knew he was.

Once the energy returned to him, he started to jog again. He sprinted. He jogged, then he walked while rasping for breath. He never heard anything around him. Silence reigned again outside of his own loud breathing. Sweden pulled himself up a tree again and almost wanted to settle in the branches and rest for a while but he didn't. He knew he had to keep moving and he didn't want to waste time. Sweden pushed himself farther, sprinting longer because he knew he could if he believed he could. When he jogged, he huffed and moved his legs faster.

He could hardly feel his legs anymore; when they moved it was as though someone else was doing it for him. Left, right, left, right. The pattern continued. Did hours go by? How many days had passed? Sweden wondered how long he would have been running if he had a watch on, and how much his time spent here compared to the world up there. He at least hoped that time passed quicker here and slower back home. Sweden didn't want to miss much. He especially didn't want to come back to find that Finland was gone.

 _He won't be_ , Sweden assured himself. _If I am in a coma, then I will have been unplugged by then._

Sweden fell into a tree, leaning against it to gasp for a moment until he shoved it away and staggered forward. His arms dangled by his side as he panted. For the first time, he felt thirst since coming here. His throat burned from the dryness and there was a metallic taste in his mouth. Sweden was sure that he didn't need to drink and that this was just pain to push his limits. He swallowed constantly to cope and get himself ready to continue running.

It was so hard. Sweden had never run for so long before in his life and yet he went harder and harder the more tired he grew. His head burned like it had been under the sun for too long and the breaths he took whistled. He pushed his hands down on his legs to help them keep moving in their mechanical, detached way. Sweden didn't want to stop. The beating inside him pounded so hard that he felt that his bones were bending and beginning to crack. In his ears he could hear a deafening _thump-thump-thump_ and his thin breaths trying to harmonize with it.

He was growing so woozy. Every bit of him burned yet still the trees didn't end. The chin that had been raised dipped down to his chest as he began to stumble more and more often during his run. His heart thumped louder and louder and now it felt that it was ripping away from all arteries and veins attached to it. Sweden choked in pain and crashed into another tree.

" _What's happening to him_?"

He sank to the ground. Sweden slumped over his legs and gasped desperately for air while staring back the way he had come. There was no longer anything behind him. He closed his eyes and wondered who had spoken. He hadn't imagined that, had he? No, he was certain that it had been as clearly heard as his own heartbeat. Not like his breaths, but a sound that came from inside him.

 _Inside… Did I hear someone from the other world?_

Sweden tried to remember how the person had sounded. When his body recovered more, he was able to think clearly and establish the answer.

 _Denmark. That was Denmark's voice._

Those words meant that his running must have affected his body and it had concerned them. Sweden took a moment to imagine himself as he must be: comatose on a hospital bed with monitors hooked up to him. If the pulsing he felt inside him was his heartbeat, then any changes could be seen on the screen by whoever was visiting him.

 _What will happen if I run too fast for too long?_ he wondered. _Would I accidentally cause my heart to stop?_

He started to understand more now. Despite how much he wanted to leave this place, he couldn't do what he had just done and risk killing himself.

 _Rule number four. Do not run._

The more time he spent here, the more Sweden realized how these rules had such meaning to them that needed to be figured out. Was it intentional that they had been left vague? Why weren't the rules more detailed, saying that running in fear triggered the monsters and straining himself harmed his physical body? This person named Eva, who had escaped this world before, was seeming to agree with the point of this land: he had to prove he deserved to go back by passing each test.

He slid up the tree then took a wobbling step forward. Every part of him felt flimsy and weak now but he forced himself to walk again through the darkness. Now though, he felt so damaged that his once powerful stride slowed down to a creeping walk. He touched each tree hoping that nothing would appear to bother him at this time.

 _Can't think about it._

He couldn't be afraid. _That_ would make them come. So instead Sweden focused on each next step. He was frustrated that it was taking so long to gain distance when moving this slowly, but his strength was taking so long to return. The silence ate at him and he wanted so much to break it. There was no one here to talk to and pass the time with. Sweden supposed he could talk aloud if it would calm him, but he wondered if it was a bad thing to make into a habit. People were often labelled as crazy for doing that.

 _But no one is here to judge_ , he thought.

He didn't know what to talk about, so he decided that if he needed to relieve his boredom on this long journey, he could sing. It was strange for him though, how hard it was to think of any songs when he knew hundreds. His mind went blank as he searched for just one to sing quietly.

Then eventually, the words of his unofficial national anthem crept out. The song was slow, so he could hold each note and listen to it float through the silence. He paused for moments to realize how the silence always returned as though it readily ate his voice once it had escaped him. Sweden stopped singing to save his breath when he climbed up another tree, but once down on the ground again and dragging his exhausted form forward, he commenced where he had left off.

" _Thou rest upon memories of great olden days_..."

He swallowed to wet his aching throat. He felt so real, but he paused to consider how much was all illusioned by him in this world.

" _When honored thy name flew across the world_."

His fingers trailed over something soft, but he walked forward and ignored whatever he had left behind.

" _I know that thou art and will be as thou were_."

Sweden noticed more gray-brown figures in his peripheral vision, siding trees or carefully peering their faces out behind them. He saw the slight turns of their heads as they gazed after him, but nothing ever more. His softly enunciated Swedish words washed over them without provoking any reaction.

" _Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the North_."

He felt strength begin to flow back into his quivering body. He tilted his face up to stare through the treetops at the black sky. Sweden longed for the stars of the real sky and he wished that an owl would fly over him now. None of these things were here though, but he went on to imagine what it would be like to have wings. How he would love to soar over the horizon so free, with glowing, golden feathers that could take him to the sun. Sweden thought that he could be happy in the sky, but once home where he belonged, he knew he would be happier to stay on the ground where those he cared about were.

Sweden felt such pain inside as he thought about how far away he was. How far he had to go and how there was a chance that he wouldn't make it home. He didn't want to be alone on this challenging journey to fight to survive. He didn't want to die and stay here forever in the Land of Eternal Night.

" _Yes... I want to live, I want to die in the North_..."

So he walked under a sky that never saw day. He replayed all the songs he had submitted into the Eurovision Song Contest ever since its beginning until he ran out. Then he went through his list of things that made Finland happy over and over again. He was thirsty, hungry, and tired, but he plodded on for no matter how many unknown days went by. Sweden never was bothered by another creature in the forest by the time the black sky above him lightened to a dark, oxford blue and he broke out into the open.

The pines abruptly ended at a wide strip of sand. Sweden stepped onto the beach and looked out a calm sea almost the same colour as the sky. Far away he was sure that he could see a black line that might have been land. He walked over to the water and bent down to touch the gentle wave sliding up the sand. It was freezing to the touch and he drew back his fingers. Was he meant to swim across?

Sweden stepped back before a wave could lap over his shoes. He turned around and looked back to the forest. He wondered if he could instead build something to carry him over the water. Sweden nodded to himself and started exploring the forest's edge for material and was gladdened to find an abundance of fallen trees. It seemed that this was what was required of him. If he wanted to continue on his quest for the sun, he had to be focused and think his way through this challenge.

He took a piece of wood to the water and tested to see if it would float. It did. He took another piece and tested it, obtaining the same result. Whenever he was successful, Sweden placed the wood pieces side-by-side to each other. Now he needed a way to tie them together, but he knew that if the wood existed here to be found, then the other materials would be here as well. He abandoned his incomplete raft to wander far down the beach until he found a tree with hundreds of dangling nooses on its branches.

He pulled as many as his arms could carry off before taking them back and putting them to use. He used the knots of the nooses and his own knowledge of others to tightly bind the wood to each other. He went back to the tree to get more rope to make sure that the wood pieces were too strongly attached to each other to be pulled apart. Finally, he looked for materials to make oars out of. He felt no breeze so he decided that getting across the sea was going to require physical effort. Sweden sought out flat pieces of wood then a sharp-edged rock, before he sat and got to work.

He spent a long time carving the wood to the shape he wanted. Sweden made more than one in case something were to happen to the one he had just made, then he secured the two extra ones to the raft. Finally, he got behind everything, inhaled deeply, then pushed it all toward the water with one oar clutched in his hand. Sweden jumped onto it before it got too far and it wobbled under his weight but stayed together. He stood tall and dipped the large oar into the water, first sinking into wet sand and having to push off it.

Eventually the oar only touched water. Sweden pushed the small raft forward while glaring ahead at that line of land on the horizon. The water remained calm and did not resist him, making travelling surprisingly easy. Sweden watched the water therefore with suspicion, wondering what was hidden below the surface. Nothing was meant to be easy here.

Yet for the longest time nothing appeared. The water sighed tranquilly around the wood and nothing splashed over his weary feet. When he grew tired of standing, he sat down and continued pushing the raft forward. He looked up to the sky again to see if it would get any more lighter, but it did not. He was not disheartened however, for just a little more light was still up there in comparison to the sky in the forest which was growing so far behind him.

Sweden wondered if he was at least a quarter of the way there yet. He was so far from shore now, caught far out into the sea where he had nowhere to go if he were to be attacked. It was unsettling to be so vulnerable on his tiny raft, ignorant of anything that could be following him and waiting to strike. Nonetheless he did not become distressed, but only concentrated on that black line in front of him.

Every stroke of the oar, like every footstep he had taken, would get him closer to the sun. To home. To Finland and the completion of his promise.

 _I will tell him_. Sweden dragged the oar through the dark water. _When I get back, I will finally reveal how much I care about him. I am going to give him gifts no matter what his response is… I am going to do everything to make him happy._

 _And nothing will stop me._

The oar cut through the water again.

 _Nothing._

Again and again, the oar went and the thought repeated. His pace maintained itself with the chant, distracting him from his exhaustion and keeping him focused on each of his goals.

The raft slowly tilted to one side. Sweden looked to his side in confusion and saw a dozen hands clinging to the wood. They were slimy and black with blue fingernails. He wrinkled his face and looked away from them to his oar. He stared at it cutting through the water and he waited for the inevitable.

Black digits rose from the sea and clutched the oar. Silent and trying to remain calm, Sweden pulled the oar away carefully so that the fingers lost their hold. Whatever was under the surface dropped back down. He paddled again but decided to stand up instead of continuing to sit. He turned his head away from the oar to the side of the raft being tilted, seeing now fifteen hands holding on.

He wondered how they knew he was there. What was also strange, was that whatever they belonged to was not showing the rest of itself. The hands clung rigidly and did not move. Feeling hardly any weight, Sweden continued on as he did before, pretending that nothing had changed.

His oar grew heavy. Sweden saw that an arm had risen to latch onto the neck of it yet the water was still. If something was up at the surface, he assumed that the creature this arm was attached to would be kicking to keep itself up. There was no sign of such an occurrence though and neither was there so much extra weight

Sweden lifted the oar higher. It came free from the water and he stared at the severed arm dangling from the wood. He dipped it back into the water with a quiet exhale and kept moving himself forward despite the new ornament to the oar.

He observed it until he saw the wet fingers move. The hand started shifting and it crept up the wood towards his hands. Sweden twitched and lowered the oar deeper into the water. He tried scraping the arm off on the side of the raft as non-aggressively as he could. It lost its grip, but he did not celebrate for it flopped onto the raft instead of falling back into the water.

It flipped over and the hand rose on stiff fingers. Sweden turned around as it skittered like a massive spider toward him. He used the flat of the oar to push it gently away into the sea but in the corner of his eye he saw the other hands start to drag themselves onto the raft.

Sweden was not comfortable stopping in the middle of the sea to deal with this. He was going nowhere and every arm he slid off the raft, another would appear or two would come to replace it. Eventually he was trapped in the middle of the swarm of bloated arms, spinning around in a circle as the raft tilted side-to-side precariously. They crawled over each other, rising higher and adding more weight to the sides. Sweden staggered for balance and tapped away the hands until a tower tipped and scrambling limbs fell over him.

Sweden yelled as the oar was dragged from his hold. He lifted his head from where he lay on his stomach crushed by the severed, rotten arms. A crowd of hands held onto the oar and rolled overboard, sinking while taking it down with them. Sweden pushed his chest up yet immediately crashed back down when the raft rocked sharply to one side. The hands skittered off him and he caught sight of them going to a single side of the raft.

The entire thing tilted onto its side. Sweden scooted for the other edge but his fingers slipped and he fell. One more shout escaped him before he plunged into the ice-cold water.

The shock stunned him and he couldn't move for a few seconds. When he felt hands grabbing onto him, all his air escaped from him in frantic bubbles. He kicked and clawed to swim upwards but more hands latched onto him to weigh down each of his limbs. His movements grew slower and his chest screamed in pain as he sank further downwards.

 _No, no!_ He tried to scream this, but his cries were muffled in the black water. _Not here! I don't want to die! No!_

He sought for strength. His heart pounded as he pushed against the weight toward the surface he could not see. He kicked his legs in a frenzy and he took time to pry off the hands with his own fingers. They fell away and would try to come back, but he attacked his own body, scratching himself to detach them. Emotion flared in his chest and he screamed in what felt like rage.

His head burst back into the air. He took in a large gulp of it and whipped his head to his sides. Sweden tore off more hands as he turned around and saw the raft floating just behind him. He swam to it powerfully but yelped when he was shoved back underwater once again. A multitude of hands piled onto him and he sank rapidly down. He writhed and tried to pull them off him again, but their grips tightened and numbed his body. He fought harder to rise upwards. Sweden's heart rate went up, higher and higher as he strove vainly against the weight.

Blind in the water and thrashing against an enemy only felt, he finally heard a voice so clear and sure.

" _Sweden. I know where you are_."

It was Norway talking; it was unmistakable.

" _Do not fight the monsters. Do not be afraid of them_."

Sweden remembered the rules again but he was conflicted. If he didn't fight, then the hands would take him down. But he needed someone to tell him what to do and he trusted Norway.

He stopped moving. Sweden grew afraid as he felt himself sink deeper and more hands grabbing onto him. He despaired as the surface grew more distant, but then he reminded himself of what Norway had told him. Sweden had to make himself calm again.

He tried imagining himself far away. Sweden pictured himself walking- _where am I walking?_ He decided that he was inside somewhere warm with other people around. It was busy and he was looking for something. _What am I looking for?_ He prompted himself again. He decided that he was browsing, following the arrows on the floor of an IKEA.

There was so much to look at. He could spend hours here, marveling over the prices of everything and filling his cart up. There were so many candles and he could get them in different colours all for the same price. Yes. He needed these to brighten up his house even if he didn't really need any candles. And potted plants- wouldn't they be wonderful to have adorning every window? He took many of those as well.

He had been there so long. Sweden thought that he should pay and get everything into the car, then maybe go back inside and have something to eat. After all, it wasn't every day he got out here, so why not have again some IKEA meatballs? It was nice enough here so staying a little while more wouldn't hurt…

Sweden felt his back touch against the ground for a moment before he passed through it. He stayed still as he felt himself become warmer and drier. Soon air enveloped him and his eyes shot open as he gasped.

He was lying on his back on the sand and when he sat up, he could see the sea before him and a line of black land in the distance.

He jolted to his feet in horror.

 _No, I'm back where I started!_

But then he noticed that the sky above him was a lighter, navy blue. His shoulders dropped as he relaxed.

 _I made it to the other side. Thank you, Norway._


	5. The Stone Meadow

_He said go dry your eyes_

 _And live your life like there is no tomorrow, son_

 _And tell the others_

 _To go sing it like a hummingbird_

 _The greatest anthem ever heard_

* * *

Past the strip of sand was a land of rocks; a gray plain spotted with huge boulders. With those large rocks standing like fat pillars everywhere, Sweden couldn't see the end of this stretch and there was an abundance of places where anything could hide. Naturally, this place was as silent as the other places had been, but again there was no feeling of emptiness. He could already sense things lurking nearby, waiting for him.

He would have climbed onto a boulder to see how far this plain was and where some creatures might be, but the rocks were too smooth to get a grip on. Sweden had no choice but to proceed forward under this dark blue sky across the solid gray land. He still hated the silence that made it harder to concentrate on his thoughts. It would have been the opposite at home, where silence at a desk while working would have been ideal. Not here though, where Sweden was left in a constant state of apprehension as he awaited the next jumpscare that could come at any second. He felt like a victim in a horror movie, when the eerie music had faded away and the watcher knew that something was going to happen to him.

Sweden walked for a while undisturbed. When he was deep into the land, he finally heard gravel bounce on the other side of the boulder he was next to. He paused for a moment then summoned up enough determination to keep moving. He remembered that no monster would hurt him as long as he kept thinking about why he needed to return home. Sweden kept his head full of loving thoughts and directed his gaze forward although he heard clear footsteps behind him.

The feet did not drag. They stepped confidently after him, catching up. Sweden wondered if these feet belonged to a person, but he did not want to look back in case he was wrong. However, if he was right, he did not want them to catch up to him. Everyone in this world had tried to hurt him so he was uncomfortable at the thought that he had his back to a person of Purgatory.

"Hey, stud," a voice purred behind him. "Where are you off to?"

It sounded so human. He cut around a boulder and used long strides that could likely get him just a little further ahead as he was out of sight. He heard the sound of running on the other side of the boulder and he halted when something jumped out in front of him.

A woman in a bikini stood barefoot on the flat rock before him. There was no rotting of her flesh and bright eyes with vivid green irises occupied her sockets. She looked as normal as the others had and Sweden knew that apparel was chosen. He decided that this was a person- something he hadn't expected to find this far out but needed to avoid nonetheless.

"You look so rushed. You really want to go back, don't you?" she smiled at him and stepped closer. Sweden kept his eyes locked with hers, searching for hostility. She was unarmed but he was not willing to trust a stranger again.

"But you don't need to hurry," she assured him. "Take your time- you have so much of it."

Sweden walked around her. He picked up his pace but she trotted after him and slid her hand into his.

"Come on, stay here for a few minutes," she chirped. "I can make it worth your time!"

He stepped forward, uttering firmly, "Stop following me."

She walked back out in front of him, cutting him off once again. A sly tone crept into her voice now. She slowly ran her hands over herself and whispered, "You can do those things here too, if you want to. And you want to, don't you?"

Sweden went around her. He stalked forward and frowned when she blocked his path again. "Wait," she said. "I can be whatever you want me to. What would you like?"

Sweden was startled when her red locks changed to blond and her eye colour converted to blue. Her body shape changed as well as the colour and size of her bikini.

"I learned that you are Swedish. Maybe you prefer this?" She winked and smirked.

He understood with absolute certainty that this was not a person at all. It was another test, although for him it was easy. Sweden kept moving but expected what did indeed occur next. He was followed again and grabbed by the arm.

"Hold on," she murmured. She let go, and this time, a shirtless man stepped out in front of him, saying, "Would this be better?"

Again, he left the creature without the slightest interest being stirred up within him. He heard slight confusion in the man's voice as he spoke up, "Wait, let me try one more time!"

The last person to step out in front of him was Finland. Every physical characteristic was exact, from the colour of his eyes to his height and bone structure. He was however, nearly undressed and giving him an expression Sweden had never seen on Finland's face before. But the copy of Finland appeared surprised when Sweden ignored him for yet another time.

Finland's voice cried after him, "Wait! Why don't you want this? Even if you know, what is the harm? It could be practice!"

Sweden scrunched up his face in disgust. He despised the creature now, for believing that he had lust for Finland, and for portraying Finland as it had. Sweden continued briskly on, feeling repulsed and wanting to get out of this place as quickly as possible. By now at least, the creature had completely given up on him and no longer was following him.

 _I understand what the rule about temptations means now_ , he thought. _And for others, that test might have been difficult. Not for me though._

Once again, only the sounds he produced himself were heard. At least though, he could see better than he could in the forest and could go around the boulders. He did not feel nearly as helpless, but he was concerned that because he couldn't climb onto a rock, he couldn't know if he was travelling the right way. More walking still, what felt like days and nights, and he was always unsure if his path was straight.

He was left feeling so isolated and alone in such a big place, longing for the other Nordics around. Sweden was sick of the gray and he greatly missed the sight of deep green Nordic forests, differently coloured patches of farmland, clusters of windmills, and busy ports. He brought up faces in his mind so he wouldn't forget the others during his time here. He couldn't forget, because to forget would be to lose things that were unimaginably important to him. The memories couldn't be allowed to flake away because then he would stop caring, then he would lose the will to keep going.

And then he would never go home.

He didn't realize until then that he missed those he wasn't necessarily so close to. But each of the Baltics were remembered- Estonia, Finland's friend, Latvia, the small one, and Lithuania, who had once been a force to reckon with when he and Poland had been a commonwealth. Then there was Russia. Sweden was bitter about his actions during the Winter War, when he took Finland and Sweden was too poor to do anything about it. Yet somehow, he found that he wanted to see even Russia again. Sweden did not want to let go of everyone forever.

Sweden tried to remember every European nation and a memory attached to them. He did not forget the micronations, especially those dearest to him: Sealand, the small micronation who truly did have a heart as big as he claimed, and Ladonia, the Swedish micronation who apparently had a Nordic cross in his all-green flag. Sweden knew that he loved them too and he always worried about them because he cared more than they might ever realize.

How could he help not picking up his pace? Tears from brimming in his eyes? No one in the world knew how much love he had in his heart but now he was here and suffering. How far was home from here? How could he know that home even existed anymore when he was unaware of the passage of time? If he cut himself, was he still gold inside, or black?

The ache made him want to contort himself and crumble. Sweden relieved the pain by finding a sharp rock and trailing it over his palm. The cut emitted golden light; he was still alive. Sweden dropped the rock and kept walking until that walk turned into a light jog.

He wouldn't run like he had before but he thought that this pace could work. It was a risk, but the memories had only made him more desperate than before. He had been walking for so long but he wanted to be home now. His heart picked up a bit, but he kept it at a low rate and tried not to strain himself.

 _Never run._

How fast did he have to go before it was considered running? Was it safe to jog? Nothing had happened before until he had overpushed himself. And he also knew something else that would happen when he was closer to death which he wanted- no, _needed_ to happen to keep him focused and sane. He would hear sounds from the other world, the voices of those visiting him.

Sweden breathed steadily as his heart thumped in his chest. He blinked slowly and listened. After a while, he did hear someone speaking to him: Iceland. As his legs stretched over the flat land, his footsteps pounding off stone, Sweden heard his voice soft in his mind.

" _Sweden… I don't know if you can hear me. But I want you to know how much I miss you. I want you back and it hurts me to see you like this. I don't understand… I just don't know why it came to be like this but all I want is for you to wake up. Please come home… Nothing is the same without you here and I am scared… I don't want you to be gone_."

Sweden hurt inside, but he kept moving.

" _Everyone wants you back. You know, we're not the only ones who visit you. The others know what happened and they care too. Maybe you didn't know before, but they do… I-I hope you hear me… I want you to know that people love you_."

Sweden wanted to respond but he couldn't. But he wanted to tell Iceland how much he cared about him as well, in case he didn't know either.

" _I, um… I have to go now. But I'll visit you again, I promise. And this isn't a goodbye. I don't want to say that to you. Just… I'll see you later, Sweden_."

He stopped jogging. He walked on and ignored the urge to lie down and sleep on the stone ground. Sweden made sure he was well-rested before he decided to jog again and possibly hear more.

He heard nothing for a while again. Sweden was going to stop, because he was starting to get tired and his heart rate was going up, but then he heard another voice. Sweden had to keep going for just a bit longer so that he could hear what was being said.

" _Hey, I'm back_."

It would have been impossible for Sweden to not recognize that voice as Finland's and just as equally impossible to not feel comforted and happier because of it.

" _Estonia isn't here this time… It's only me. Although I just saw Iceland, rushing off. I think he has to go home. But he visited you again, that's nice. Iceland… he misses you. Oh, we all do. I… miss you so, so much. It's weird because, while there've been times where we haven't seen each other for a long time, I always knew that I would see you again. This time though… you're right in front of me yet you feel so far away_."

The joy in him was fading. Cold sadness filtered into his heart and he almost stopped jogging.

" _The things Norway says scare me- us. D-Denmark tells him to stop talking about it because it stresses him out. He is also mad at T-Tom. He's trying to have him arrested b-but we can't prove anything. After all, you hit your head and that's what the doctor and the police believe put you into this state. But I know those flowers did something. They were so pretty and if you hadn't been there, hurt, I would have touched them. But no one did. We were terrified. Tom was scared too… he told us he had never seen those flowers before. Denmark didn't believe him, mostly because the flowers aren't there anymore and he thinks that's suspicious._

" _But… despite the mess, I think Tom really is innocent. Maybe you agree? You give people chances, I know you do. Yeah. You are very kind. That's why I know you can do this..._ "

It was like he was listening to Finland through a phone, although his speaker was broken. Finland would never hear him, he knew, yet despite that Sweden tried to speak as he forced himself to jog just for a little longer. The words caught in his throat then he slowed to a walk. Even now, alone and unheard, Sweden blushed as he tried to voice his feelings.

Sweden stopped and took the time to catch his breath. Finland's voice faded away as his heart rate lowered, but before it was gone he finally murmured, "I'll come back for you, Fin. Nothing in the world will stop me."

He started walking again. His feet crunched on the occasional piece of gravel and the sound travelled further than his quiet sigh, "I miss you."

It was surprising to hear of everything that had transpired while he was gone. Hard to imagine as well, because of the huge disconnection he felt to the physical world. But he understood the impact his departure had left on the others. They were stressed, scared, and sad. They were counting on him to return, hoping with all of their heavy hearts that he would be strong enough to escape the place not meant for him.

 _I can't let them down and I can't let them suffer._

Sweden looked up to the sky. It seemed a bit lighter, but he could not determine how much lighter for he had gotten used to the slow transition between shades. He was sure though, that the sun was closer. After listening to Finland too, he was feeling motivated and hopeful.

 _Maybe I am getting close._

Sweden marched on diligently and cozied up into the sweater. His hands went into the front pocket and he lowered his face. He jumped in surprise when he heard a group of voices behind him at an angle, coming close. They were chatting to each other in English and from his experience the monsters here didn't talk to each other. Sweden trotted to the side, watching the ground so that he didn't step on any pebbles and alert them. He hid behind one of the massive boulders to wait for them to pass.

He heard at least four voices. Sweden stayed still as they went by the boulder but took a quick peek once they had passed by. Four men he had never seen before kept walking forward, unaware of his presence. He had no intention of moving so soon yet as he waited, he heard additional soft footfalls. Sweden stuck out his head and saw a figure trailing after the group.

It was gray like the stone, difficult to discern from its surroundings, and thin like a branch. It ambled forward, towering over the men who had not yet noticed it. The creature was twice the height of Sweden, mostly legs but also having long, dangling arms, and an extended face. Sweden blinked back when its face turned his way for a moment. He glanced over its features, its empty eyes that had glowing red pricks deep in them like pupils, its nonexistent nose, and long, upward smile that curved so high that the corners ended beside its eyes.

That smile creaked open for him, revealing a set of stained, cat-like teeth. It looked away from Sweden, back ahead, as it stalked after the men. Sweden cautiously crept forward and trailed after it and the men, helplessly curious about what would transpire. If they could handle whatever this creature was, then he thought that perhaps they were good people. He still wanted to have someone to travel with to deal with the silence, and Finland had been right about the fact that he wanted to be nice and trust people.

Sweden kept behind them and to their side, zipping between boulders to avoid being seen first. He kept watch of the tall, gray creature who seemed completely disinterested in him. Eventually, it produced a footstep loud enough that one member of the group turned back. Sweden was surprised by how swiftly the creature slipped behind a boulder, flitting like a shadow across the distance. He drew back a bit himself although the men were not looking his way.

"What's a matter?" one of them asked.

"I don't know. Heard something," was the reply.

The creature went out of Sweden's view around the boulder. He, and everyone else, then heard more footfalls on the ground. Human feet. A woman in a bikini then stepped out into sight and appeared startled when she nearly crashed into the men. She had red hair and green eyes- it was the same creature that had confronted Sweden before. He was shocked now though, to have seen its true form and know that it had crept after him like that just as it had just crept after these men. Yet it made sense now, why it had ignored him even after making eye contact.

"Wow, lovely lady, what are you doing out here all alone?" one of them purred.

Sweden frowned and continued to watch. The group exhibited no caution, believing as Sweden had that because this person did not appear rotten, that it was no monster. Sweden was left wondering however, how they had made it this far when they were rapidly falling into the temptation.

 _They must know not to be afraid, but it doesn't mean that they are good._

Because it wasn't just about staying calm. Criminals could stay calm, but bad people who thought they could get away with something would do horrible things. Sweden saw it now. The group was ringing around her, hands with excitedly wiggling fingers reaching out to touch. He placed his hands on the rock, pressing in as he anticipated the slaughter.

Someone grabbed her and smashed his lips against hers. Sweden saw a red light appear deep in each pupil of her half-closed eyes, not noticed by the men yet. Cracks crept upward from the corner of her lips and her body began to gray. Now the transformation was recognized by the others, and they leapt away with yells, removing their hands. The one with his eyes closed as he kissed the creature was slow on the uptake, but after the shouts of the others he looked just as a fanged smile opened wide in front of him.

Sweden jumped when half of the man's face disappeared into the mouth and there was a terrible crunching sound. The body fell back, the face entirely gone and black smoke pouring out from the tear. The others gave out bloodcurdling cries as the monster flashed around them, too fast to see its movements, grabbing onto each one of them and tearing them apart with its smiling face. Sweden turned away and quivered after seeing limbs ripped away, but he could still hear cracks and the memory of the blackness curling away from the bodies haunted him. Somehow the lack of blood disturbed him more and now he wished he hadn't followed them.

 _I should have known…_ Sweden thought with exposed teeth. He sprang away from the rock and briskly hurried away. _No one is good. Trust no one, nothing… Keep going..._

Sweden hated people like them, but their deaths terrified him. The creature's appearance was horrifying and he couldn't get the smile out of his head.

" _What is wrong_?"

When Sweden heard Finland's voice, he remembered that he had to control his heart rate. He couldn't be afraid. Yet he was when he realized that the voice hadn't been in his head this time. In front of him, Finland stepped out from around a boulder, dressed now in his familiar, light-blue military uniform. In each hand he held a severed arm.

A huge smile flashed on Finland's face then disappeared. Sweden inhaled sharply.

"You are afraid," Finland's kind, sweet voice said to him. "Why?"

Sweden wanted to back away when approached. He stood still and looked at the cross neck charm on Finland's jacket instead of the red glowing in his pupils.

"I won't hurt you." Finland shook his head. "You are different. You shouldn't even be here."

Sweden looked back at his face. The red was gone and all he saw was the perfect copy of Finland, looking back at him in what looked like kindness. He was so wary, but his fear was fading.

"I learned all about you," the fake Finland continued. "I tested you, but it is true. You aren't like the others. I'm not supposed to hurt you because you are good."

Sweden wasn't sure what to do. He could only listen.

"You followed and didn't like what you saw." The smile flashed on the face again. "That is why you are scared. I can hear your heart beating… You are alive. They were not, but the pulsing of their black souls, fast- terrified, I heard that too. Different sounds… yours is a nice _thump-thump-thump-thump_ … like that of someone else who just passed through."

"Someone else?" Sweden finally found the ability to speak

Finland nodded. "I let him through. I'll let you go too, although you are scared. Because I know that you should not be punished. See, I only kill those who deserve it. It is a job- my job. The bad shouldn't go on."

 _He said him. He doesn't mean the sister of Tom… Eva. Someone else is here who is alive. I should find him._

Sweden was no longer afraid now after the reassurance that the creature gave him that he would pass through. Seeking possibly useful information, he now inquired, "Why are you intelligent?"

"Compared to the others?" Finland laughed, but it was off and too high-pitched. "Well, you've probably only seen the Fallen People. I make them, because I am an Original. Every land you will find has one. You passed through the Starlit Plain, the Forest of Lost Dreams, and the Quiet Water which I also rule over. The first two places had Originals, but they might not have been around you. So many Fallen there to do their job for them… Not many make it this far."

Finland turned his hands up and the arms flopped in his grasp.

"You've done well, but make sure not to be afraid. Other Originals are not as understanding as I am. They will think you do not care enough about your loved ones to keep focused, even if you do care a lot. The… I'll give you a hint, a well-deserved gift for your determination. When you see the Face-Stealer, do not look back at it. It is scarier than its reflection so let's not have any accidents… After all, you want to see the real Finland again."

Sweden nodded slowly. Finland stepped to the side, tilted his hips to one side, and pointed forward with one of the limp, severed arms. Sweden followed the direction the pseudo-Finland was indicating and went by him. He walked on for a bit before he took a glance back. The tall, gray creature was watching him depart, showing its fangs all the same to him, but Sweden was sure that the smile was rather encouraging for a demon's.


	6. Tundra Mountains

_We are the heroes of our time_

 _But we're dancing with the demons in our minds_

* * *

It was getting colder. Sweden noticed this even before the boulders disappeared and only a field of flat rock lay before him. At the end that he could now see, Sweden saw an enormous mountain looming in the distance. The sky there disappeared from sight due to a thick ceiling of gray clouds and a haze of white blurred most of the mountain. It was snowing there; a blizzard from how it looked from here. The mountain also seemed wider than it was tall, meaning that he would be better off pushing through that storm to save time.

Sweden felt the wind reaching him and eventually snow dusted the stone and blew over him. His chest felt warm but his hands and feet were starting to freeze. Sweden pulled the hood over his head then let his hands burrow into the front pocket and clasp onto each other. He already dreaded the snowy mountain that he would meet, but wondered if it was possible to ignore the cold and if that was the final goal he was supposed to discover.

He plowed through the rising layer of snow. Soon enough he was leaving a track of prints behind him that grew deeper and deeper. He felt numb all over and his body stung, yet he kept walking as he always did, keeping his eyes and heart set forward. It must have been hours, perhaps days of walking- it was difficult to know but he kept his mind occupied to stay focused. In the end however, he reached the foot of the mountain and could now discern a white, gray, and brown shape that almost blended into the snowy mountain scenery.

It had its back to him but it was human-shaped and short in stature. It looked like a child, but Sweden was now knowledgeable about how the creatures in this world could deceive. Sweden crept closer, placing his feet down carefully in the snow. The childlike thing continued patting its hands on the rock of the mountain, feeling its way left to the path. It was then that Sweden noticed the scarf wrapped not around its neck, but its eyes, acting as a blindfold.

It was so strange and Sweden was wary of it, yet even if this was a test he thought that he might be punished for abandoning a child in the cold instead of helping it. Then again, was this the living person that the Original had meant? If that was the case, Sweden could not help but be astonished that a child could have made it this far.

When closer to it, he could hear feeble sniffling that did not seem to be from a mere runny nose. Finally, Sweden decided to commit. Trying in English, he uttered simply, "Hey."

The child froze. "Who's there?"

"A person. A living person."

The sniffing stopped. The child turned around and Sweden looked over him. He had a white sweater on, gray pants, and around his dark-skinned face was a lilac scarf. The child reached up to touch the scarf, but his tiny, mittened hands dropped.

"Joanne said not to take it off though," he said. "No matter what."

Sweden looked around. There was no one else in the vicinity except for them.

"Where's Joanne?" he asked.

The child whined. Sweden frowned. He knew that the tears had returned because the sniffing recommenced. Every bit of him wanted to comfort the child, but he was still a stranger and he did not want to accidentally scare him.

"I'm alone… She was here but now she's not… She said we were going around rocks. Then we met someone. They talked and she told me to wait… So I did. I waited and waited b-but she never came back..."

The realization hit Sweden like a blow and he knew he was not going to reveal what he knew. He didn't like the sound of this Joanne, for leaving the child even for an intended few minutes, but the child was nonetheless distressed to have lost her.

"But then… someone told me to keep moving. He pushed me and said I'd probably find help later. He said it'd be okay because I'm good. But Joanne said I can't be scared but I am now… because I can't do it all on my own…"

The child began to sob loudly now. Sweden could no longer hold back. He knelt down and hugged the child's freezing body carefully, letting him cry into him and receive warmth off him. The child was not startled but rather seemed to have needed this. As extra reassurance, Sweden murmured, "It's okay. You're not alone now."

Sweden believed that the whimper that followed meant he was listening but still was mournful nevertheless.

"I'll take you home."

The small head nodded against his chest.

"What's your name?"

The shaky answer was, "Max."

"How old are you?"

"Seven…"

"So you're only in grade two?"

"Yeah." Max sniffed.

"Where're you from?"

"C-Canada."

"Mm. Canada is a nice place. The flag's cute too I think."

Max seemed to be calming down from the simple, distracting questions. He stopped crying to say to Sweden, "I like the leaf."

Sweden exhaled a laugh. He was surprised when the child realized what it was and giggled. Then, Sweden was told, "You sound funny. Where are you from?"

"Sweden."

"Like Sweeedish Fish?"

"Ja."

"What's your name?" Max asked sweetly, like one child addressing another. Sweden knew from this that he was already liked.

Sweden replied, "Call me Berwald."

He didn't need to confuse the child by explaining too much. He thought that this would be easier for the child to work with, if he was believed to just be a regular person like him. Sweden wanted to know more though. He felt sure at that moment that this was the living person he was supposed to find, but he inquired to try to be sure, "How did you get here, Max?"

"The flowers…"

"Ah."

Max sniffed once. "They were so pretty. When I saw them, I just wanted to touch… My sister would've loved one."

"And Joanne?"

"I just met her… She kept me calm when there were scary things and the blindfold made it easy."

 _She wasn't a part of his life then. She wasn't alive_ , Sweden summarized. _And he isn't bothered by her disappearance, just by being alone._

"You can keep the blindfold on if you like," Sweden said. "Just stay close to me."

He took the child by the hand and stood up. He stepped ahead and led Max toward a dirty path that lay to their side. Sweden shortened his strides to accommodate for Max's small legs, but the going was slow especially with the snow. Sweden ached at the thought that he was losing time here but no part of him could allow himself to abandon a child. After all, Max had only made it so far with the help of someone so Sweden knew what kind of fate the child would meet if left alone.

A part of him wondered still if this was a test on his patience. Perhaps this was not a true child and Sweden has being evaluated on his kindness and willingness to sacrifice something he wanted- getting home quickly, for the sake of another person. Either way his feelings were pulled and he was glued to his decision. He was going to treat the child as a child, giving him all the necessary gentleness while hoping that the character of Max was real.

Sweden saw that the path sloped upwards, going over the mountain and seemingly down it as well. He brushed snow off his face but found that the higher they went, the more he did this. The wind picked up and the child automatically drew behind him to hide from stinging, cold air lashing out at them. Sweden boldly took over as the windbreaker but the numbness affecting him made it harder and harder to push upwards.

It got steeper and colder as the storm picked up. Sweden knew they were heading into the blizzard that he had spotted when on the flat expanse of stone. He bowed his hooded head and trudged through the thickening snow on the ground. He heard Max panting with effort and Sweden's own mouth parted as he grew tired. He heard his heart picking up, producing that _thump-thump-thump-thump_ that the Original from before had told him it could hear. Sweden therefore wondered if there was anything nearby in this new land that would hear it.

Max was moving slower and slower. Sweden reduced his speed but looked back to check on him. He was gasping, inhaling the freezing air and shivering. The snow was coming up to Sweden's knees and was becoming too much for Max to handle.

 _Children aren't meant to come here. He cannot make it on his own._

Sweden stopped. He knelt in front of Max and said, "Climb onto my back."

They parted hands and Max obediently felt for him then crawled onto him. Sweden supported his legs then stood. He pressed onto into the storm with the child placing his hands by his neck and sticking his cold face into his hood. Max did not weigh much, but as the path inclined further walking became truly more strenuous.

Sweden respired more deeply. His heart trembled and now and then he heard beeping. He went even slower, inching forward against the buffeting wind. His glasses became so painfully cold, feeling like pieces of ice on his face. He managed to remove them and tuck them into his pocket. He couldn't tell if his eyesight was affected however, when most of what he saw was a white and brown blur regardless.

The blocks of rock around him where the only things that helped him orientate himself although he assumed that even if he had wandered off the path it didn't matter as long as he kept moving upwards. Unable to see much, Sweden was left with the whistling of the wind and the feeling of fatigue to focus on. Until that is, he realized that those weren't the things he was supposed to be focused on. It wasn't about if his lungs were freezing from the air or if he even had lungs here.

 _Stayed focused._

That rule meant one thing. Not to worry about himself but to think about others. Finland. Iceland. Norway. Denmark. Everyone else that he had to get back to. The things he wanted to do with them when he got back to be happy with them. These were the important things to focus on instead of worrying about the situation he was in because they were worth what was happening now.

 _Yes. I would do this over and over again to be with them. Just to tell Finland the truth. Anything. Nothing in the world will keep us apart._

Sweden peered through the storm when he caught sight of a dark shape both tall and wide. Once closer he realized that it was a pine tree. He was baffled to see a tree like this one all alone when he hadn't seen a tree in a very long time, but what was stranger was that there was absolutely no snow sticking to it.

Sweden came closer, holding onto his courage to not be swayed. He peered at it with suspicion, watching how the blizzard seemed to go through the tree. He wondered if he touched it, if he would feel anything at all, but he was apprehensive of the tree so he decided not to. Sweden tried to take control of his breathing as he dragged himself up the mountain to pass under the pine's branches.

The yelp of the child released a gasp from him and he lost his composure. Sweden hopped away from the tree then put Max down to check over him. He saw that the blindfold was gone and he could now see his brown, frightened eyes. He looked back to the tree and saw the scarf snagged on a branch, which would have relieved him if that branch holding the scarf wasn't so high up.

 _How did it get up there when the wind is blowing downwards?_ Sweden glared at the tree. He then turned back to Max and stated, "Let's go."

The boy's eyes were watering. He said, "It grabbed it. I felt it!"

Sweden quickly scooped him up into his arms and set off briskly. He needed to calm down Max before his emotions would endanger him. He would need to put distance between themselves and the tree and tell him that they would be alright.

"Don't look back," Sweden said. "Stay focused, okay?"

Max was hiding his face into Sweden anyway, seemingly not wanting to move from there for a while.

Sweden walked on for a long time, also taking his own advice in not looking back. Soon he was surprised to see the storm calming down. It was still cold, but the land was flattening and he was walking out into the clear.

Sweden went forward for another while until Max uttered a feeble, "Berwald…"

"Hm?"

No answer. The child had nothing to say.

"It's okay," Sweden decided to say. "Don't be afraid."

"Really?" Max whimpered.

"Yes."

"Sure?"

"I am," Sweden replied.

Max lifted his head and looked out in front of them at the undisturbed field of snow. Sweden set him down onto his feet where the snow only went up to Max's knees this time. Sweden rolled his aching arms as Max padded forward on his own, staring at his feet as he put footprints into the snow.

"Do you get snow in Swedan?" Max asked.

Sweden exhaled a laugh. "Yes. Lots in Swe _den_."

"More than Canada?"

"The same, I think."

Sweden trailed behind Max like a guard as he trampled through the snow. Max seemed calm enough now that they were here with nothing in sight, but Sweden was worried what would happen if he saw something disturbing. Until this point Max had seen nothing because of the blindfold so he was likely to panic then get attacked.

 _I have to keep him happy and safe_ , he thought. He just hoped that this far in they would stop encountering decomposing creatures. He didn't know how he could convince a child not to be afraid if a moaning zombie charged them.

Max scooped some snow and patted it into a ball. He carried it with him until they reached the end of this field and both were standing at the peak. Sweden's eyebrows lifted when he saw another mountain of equal size awaiting them with another storm heading up it. He was going to have to do what he just did all over again.

 _But I can do it. I will do it._

Max dropped the snowball and reached for Sweden's hand. His hand was cold but eventually the cloth made Sweden's skin warm. The downward slope that they carefully went down was easy, almost like a break in reward for what they had just accomplished. It took hardly any time in comparison to go down than going up. When they were at the bottom however, in the curve between the mountains, Sweden craned his neck and looked at the identical copy of the mountain they had just hiked up.

Then Max snatched onto his side tightly without warning. Sweden jumped but listened when he whined, "It's back!"

"What?"

"The tree!"

Sweden's heart nearly stopped. He glanced over his shoulder and on the downward slope stood the pine tree with the scarf caught in its branches. It was only about one-hundred metres away from them. Sweden had been trying to avoid looking back and now that he had done it he regretted it. Now he knew they were being followed and it was going to bother him.

"B-Ber…"

"A tree can't hurt us," Sweden told him. "Let's keep moving."

"But it took my-"

"It just got caught on the branch."

Sweden felt horrible for being dishonest, but he didn't know what that tree could do and he had a feeling it could do a lot considering that it had been stalking them.

Sweden walked side-by-side with Max up the next mountain. He watched the child to make sure he didn't try looking back, and a few times he turned Max forward as he was moving to his side.

To distract him, Sweden mumbled, "Do you know what language we speak in Sweden?"

"Swiss!"

"Not quite." Sweden smiled slightly although Max didn't see it. "Swedish."

"Oh."

"Do you want to learn some?"

"Yeah!"

They labored up the mountain. The wind was starting to pick up but Sweden strained his ears to hear anything behind him. The hairs on his back raised because he knew something was behind him and close, yet he heard not a sound. Max seemed to be stiffening up as well, but Sweden continued working to distract him.

 _Keep talking._

He wasn't used to talking but he had to now to keep them alive. Sweden tried hard to pronounce his words more clearly, attempting to not skip over vowels but to include every letter. He let go of his embarrassment and let the words flow out.

 _Like Finland. Just talk and be free._

"Okay. What do you want to know? Go ahead and pick some words."

Max _hmm_ ed then replied, "How do you say 'snow'?"

"Snö."

"Snuh?"

"Yes, that's good."

Sweden wanted to talk more. He raised his voice as the wind grew stronger although speaking so loudly made him uncomfortable.

He explained, "It is three letters. S, N, then an O with two lines over it."

"Huh?"

"Here, I'll show you." Sweden halted and Max stood by the side as he drew into the snow with his foot the word. He introduced Max to Ö, saying, "It is not an O but its own letter. The last letter in the Swedish alphabet… and the Finnish one."

They moved on. Sweden knew they could stop for a little while, but he knew that they were not supposed to stop moving for too long and he didn't know how long that meant.

"Other languages have it too. Icelandic, German, Estonian, Hungarian… Have you heard of these ones?"

Max exclaimed, "I know German! L-Like, _Scheiße_!"

"That's right. German is from Germany… Do you know about Iceland?"

"It's by Greenland, isn't it? And Greenland is icy but Iceland is green!"

Sweden smiled to himself again.

"Actually…"

Thus Sweden began to tell him about the Nordics. Max was quiet and Sweden looked to him now and again to make sure that he was still interested in what he was saying. The child was looking up at him enthusiastically, soaking up his every word. It gave him confidence. Sweden spoke louder and he felt stronger. He moved out in front of Max and faced the wind with a broad chest and raised chin.

After Iceland, he talked about Norway. Its peace, fish, mysterious air, and mythological trolls. Then Sweden told him about his home. His heart swelled with pride as he relayed all the things he loved about his country, making him certain that there was no one he would rather be than himself.

He talked about Denmark next to show contrast, how their cultures varied, how their countries used to be such enemies, and he mentioned the bridge connecting them that had a part that went under the sea. That part impressed Max greatly. Sweden had to tell him quickly that it was not made of glass and that people driving through didn't get to see any fish.

"Finland is a little different than the rest of us." Sweden brushed away the snow coating his face. "His language. His culture. But Finland is fun… They have strange festivals and they like Christmas a lot. They would tell you that Santa lives in their country, you know."

"But Santa lives in the North Pole!"

"Some people disagree, but that's okay. Santa's Workshop is hidden. No one is supposed to know where it is."

"Oh, I get it!"

"Finns love saunas too. Strange candy, especially salted licorice."

"Ewww!"

Sweden felt so warm inside as he talked. The cold was being forgotten as he continued, "I think they're alright. You should try it first."

The snow piled higher. Sweden had Max climb onto his back again and this made it easier to be heard.

"Although Finland likes alcohol, like vodka, and that one is not good for you to try."

The incline was increasing again. Sweden began breathing out his mouth once more.

"Hey… Berwald…" Max eventually said beside his ear. "What's that up there?"

Sweden turned his head from side-to-side, trying to see what he was referring to. He saw snow and rock, but then he realized that in a rock wall there was a dark hole.

"It's a hole," he replied.

"I'm really, really cold…" Max whined. "Can we go in? The snow's hurting me…"

Sweden stared at the hole. Going inside would give them a break from the storm, but it was too suspicious.

 _Resist all temptations._

"Sorry," Sweden said. "I think it's a trap. We have to keep going but I promise we'll get out of the cold eventually."

The child whimpered piteously into him. Sweden felt guilty but he knew that ignoring the hole was a good idea. He could only imagine that inside, something horrible was waiting.

The blizzard only grew worse. Sweden quaked and gasped as he pulled them up the slope through the thick snow and the onslaught from above. His legs fought against the wind to gain land but it felt as though every two steps he took he was pressed back one.

"Are you okay?" Max called into his ear in a high voice. His words were almost whipped away by the wind but Sweden had heard him.

"I'll manage.

"I can walk," Max said.

"It's too hard. The snow'll be up to your hips."

"Really, I can! Put me down!"

Sweden hesitantly lowered himself. It was a relief to have dropped a few kilos but he glanced back, only to where Max was struggling in the snow and clawing for distance until he fell onto his face. Sweden told him to climb back on and Max did, now sniffling.

"I can do it, don't worry," Sweden told him.

There was no dispute this time.

His head was full of beeping again. Sweden felt woozy as his heart picked up once more then he came to hear an unfamiliar voice. _A doctor?_ The person was speaking Danish however and he was too dizzy to concentrate on recognizing words from the babble.

"Berwald?"

"It's fine."

Sweden was inhaling with rasps now however and his exhales were loud and curt.

"Maybe we should stop?"

"We can't," Sweden said.

"Berwald…"

This time Sweden replied, "I'm fine."

The beeping was getting so loud. More voices became heard and they too were getting louder. Yet the storm and the incline persisted and he didn't want to stop.

He did however, when he saw a cadaver frozen to the ground. Sweden halted and commanded Max to close his eyes. He assumed he did what he was told, for he was quiet as Sweden curved around the body. It was still as Sweden regarded it and noted the deep, black gashes all over it and the missing chunk from its hip.

It twitched. Sweden moved on promptly but thought, _What did that to this person? They did not perish from the cold._

He slowed down to catch his breath. He would walk a few steps, stop for a few seconds, then continue. It helped a bit in controlling his heart rate but he wanted to leave the body immediately.

Sweden felt Max shift on his back then gasp.

"It's there!"

Sweden hadn't wanted Max to see the corpse. He started to say, "Don't lo-"

"The tree…"

At that time his own words returned to him.

 _A tree can't hurt us._

"Look away," Sweden uttered. "Don't look back. Never be afraid."

He recommenced his brisk pace. His chest ached and he felt on the verge of collapsing, but then the storm disappeared when they finally broke through into the calm field. Sweden heard the fierce blizzard behind him and knew that there was a wall there between the storm and the clear.

"There," he sighed. "We're safe. Everything's alright."

He set Max down and led him forward. Sweden recovered his strength and the sounds of the other world faded away. Now all he heard was the sound of their breathing and their feet crunching the snow.

"Can you name the five Nordic countries I told you about?" He decided that after seeing the tree again, they need to get back to talking.

Max was able to name them all with ease.

"Which one would you like to visit the most?" Sweden inquired next.

"Finland!" the child chirped. "It sounded fun! I want to go there!"

The warmth returned to Sweden. "I would love to go there too," he said.

"What else do they have there? Any good food? What are the other festivals like?"

So Sweden told him. The need to speak so much and so loudly to Max earlier made it easier now to let loose. Sweden let his eyes soften with his words as he told Max more and more about Finland, answering every question and adding extra tidbits of information.

"After Sweden, is Finland your favorite?" Max asked.

Sweden blushed when he realized how long he had been talking about Finland. It had been longer than when he had been talking about himself. Yet he felt so fuzzy when confronted and he pictured the personification of Finland in his mind's eye right then. His free hand clutched at the sweater within the pocket and he couldn't resist lowering his face to hide his mouth in the fabric.

"I think that I might like him more," he exhaled. "It's hard to describe… how much I love Finland."

Max laughed. "You called Finland a 'he'!"

Sweden blushed harder. "I didn't mean to."

They made it to the end of the field and Sweden stood with Max over the edge before the path went downward. There were no more mountains to cross. They stared into the distance at a land with gentle, beige hills. Sweden realized that they were looking at sand; a desert. The clouds disappeared there and Sweden gazed at the deep red and orange sky.

Excitement stirred within him. "We're getting close," he uttered.

From this height he could even see the end of the desert. On the edge of the horizon there was what appeared to be a massive wall both long and wide. Upon further observation though, it seemed to be in fact a building made of metal. There was no way around or over it and Sweden already knew that they were going to have to go through it.

But that matter would be dealt with later. Step-by-step, they would travel that land first then the next one. Perhaps the sun was on the other side of that wall.

They started down the mountain. Sweden hopped down with Max's hand secure in his own, feeling increasing relief as the spot where snow met sand came closer. He inhaled sharply when he heard a creaking of branches behind him but they did not stop moving. Both looked forward to where they were going, to home.

Just before he stepped off the snow-dusted path however, Sweden heard a sigh like groaning, old wood.

" _Many things here are not real. Remember this_."

Then the cold was swept away as they skipped forward through the sand.

* * *

*ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÅÄÖ is the whole alphabet in Swedish and Finnish. When Ö and Ä are written it is common to make two lines over top instead of two dots so it is easier to see what letters they are (they are indeed not accented O's and A's). Ø and Æ are the equivalents in Danish and Norwegian.

* * *

 **A reminder that reviews would always be appreciated!**


	7. Red Desert

_The crickets sing a song for you_

 _Don't say a word, don't make a sound_

 _It's life's creation_

 _I make worms turn into butterflies_

 _Wake up and turn this world around_

 _In appreciation_

* * *

"Every dune we make it to, I will teach you a new word," Sweden told him.

Max was tired. The dunes were seemingly unending and walking through the sand was a lot more work than walking on flat stone had been. It was like they hadn't gotten a break from the snow of the mountain but at least there was no wind and only moderate inclines. Sweden was faring well now but he knew it was harder for someone with shorter legs.

"It is hard," he continued. "But if it gets too hard, I can carry you again."

The small hand squeezed his. "I can do it!"

Sweden nodded. He liked the determination even if he were to end up carrying him when all was said and done.

It felt warmer as more of the chill left their bodies. Sweden knew that soon they were going to be able to feel the heat and likely suffer for it. Yet he would manage especially now that the sky was no longer dark. It was a deep red; it was no longer night. The sun was close and Sweden felt pulsing excitement to get home.

 _Many things here are not real._

Sweden still had those words stuck in his head. He glanced down to Max and wondered, _Are you who you say you are? Who I was looking for?_

He was already attached to the child and knew that if it was only a creature testing him, he would be distraught. He liked children a lot and thought they were fun, which was why he had wanted to adopt Sealand and raise him with Finland. After all, Finland had once mentioned when they were in North America how fun it would be to have a child around them and Sweden had wanted to fulfill that wish.

 _I'll do my best_ was what he had said. He had wanted a family too. He had Sealand and Ladonia now to take care of, not to mention that whenever Finland was around he was kind to them too.

 _He is a great parent._

But was Finland really considered one of their parents? Sweden was, but as much as he would love to have Finland around with them too, he had his own place. Then there was the question about how Finland felt about it all. Sweden cursed his silence again because right now he had no idea if Finland wanted to have a family with him or not, or if they already were in one.

 _It's fine if he doesn't want to_ , he thought. _That's his choice. I respect him and would not force anything upon him, especially something as big as that. But… it would be nice…_

They did have a dog though, or at least Sweden thought so. Finland had little Hanatamago the most but she was his too- wasn't she? Sweden was questioning this notion now, but before it had seemed that she was something they had shared with each other because they had named her together and both cared for her. Sweden carried her, he taught her tricks, played with her…

She seemed to love him and right now his heart ached. He missed her. His free hand longed to touch soft fur, petting the spot on top of her head so that her black eyes closed and she dozed. His chest quivered. He loved that stray Finland had found to death and now there was another thing on the list driving Sweden forward.

At the top of a dune, Sweden chose the first word. He gave Max the word _kärlek_ , meaning love. It was the first thing he had thought of and it was something important.

"Shair-leek," Max attempted.

Sweden said the word more times for Max to repeat after him.

"Kärlek."

"Shäääärrlek."

"It's better. Shorten the first part," he instructed him. "Kärlek."

"Kärrlek."

Sweden smiled softly. "You're smart."

The boy beamed. He then seemed to want to please more, so he went over the words he knew again and again.

"Snö! Kärlek! Snö and kärrrlek! Snöööö!"

Sweden readjusted his grip on Max's hand and blinked contently.

Max then said, "Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are Nordic countries!"

"Yes." Sweden's heart beat placidly. "That's right."

"Can I have another word?"

They were only halfway to the next dune, but Sweden didn't want to disappoint such an eager child.

"Okay. _Vän_ means friend."

"Ven!"

Sweden drew the word in the sand like he had with the word _snö_ before in the snow. He showed Max the letter Ä then helped him pronounce it, using his throat.

"Vän," Max said.

"Yes."

"You are my vän!"

They moved on, leaving the word behind. Sweden replied gently, "You are mine too."

Then at the next dune the word was _hund_ for dog. Like hound without the O, he had explained. But when Max tried to put love and dog together in a sentence, Sweden had to explain that _kärlek_ was the noun for love and the verb was something else. Max knew what a noun was and a verb, but Sweden asked if he knew about adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions to find that he did not.

Sweden found immense joy and peace teaching Max anything he didn't know. He felt as though he had been accepted as a father and was raising him.

" _Jag_ means I."

Max had that one down quickly.

"Jag älskar is 'I love'."

They went over that again and again until he could pronounce it coherently with an accent. They reviewed the other words. Sweden held off giving him new ones until he could correctly recall the previous ones when quizzed. Sweden tested him then on the other things he had told him about, like where he should look for trolls (Norway), who had a lot of volcanoes (Iceland), which country had a statue of the Little Mermaid (Denmark), and what a sauna was and the country that loved to use them (Finland).

"Jag älskar min vän," Sweden said.

"I love my friend?"

Sweden nodded, then said, "Jag älskar min hund."

"I love my dog!"

Another nod.

Max exclaimed, "Jag älskar snö!"

Sweden inhaled sharply when the sand in front of them stirred. Something under the surface slithered away, flowing like a serpent to the next dune and disappearing into it. Max had seen it too and had jumped into him. Sweden let go of his hand to briefly put his arm around him comfortingly. He rubbed Max's arm and felt a slight trembling under his touch.

"It's okay," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing to worry about."

Sweden took them to the side to pass around the dune although it killed more time doing so. Walking back out on the sand behind it, Sweden saw nothing stirring the sand now.

 _He was so startled. If he had actually seen what it was, he would have been more scared._

That concerned Sweden more. How was he going to protect him if he kept getting afraid when it was paramount that he did not?

 _It's not fair. Being scared doesn't mean a lack of caring for returning._

Sweden then recalled the words of the other Original who had first spoken to him. The piece of advice he had been given that seemed trustworthy, that there was an Original he would meet who was quite unfair in this way. The Face-Stealer. It hadn't been the tree, who had mainly left them alone and had also been considerate enough to bless Sweden with advice.

 _Do not look at the Face-Stealer_ , Sweden remembered. _Its reflection is not as scary as it is apparently… But around here there are no reflective surfaces. Farther still then, before we met it._

" _Är_ means am, is, and are all in one word," Sweden went on. "So now you can say 'I am'."

"Jag är Max!"

"Ja. Du är Max."

Sweden told him how to say you in the singular, then how to reverse the verb and noun to make a question. He was proud by how fast Max was learning. He understood Sweden's deep, rumbling voice very well, or perhaps because Sweden had been talking so much it was getting easier to understand him? It seemed so. Like in the snowstorm, he was focusing on including vowels when he spoke, and being louder.

Sweden spied a long lump in the sand. When they neared it, it slithered toward them. Max yelped and Sweden scooped him off the ground. Sweden stood stalk-still as something curved around his feet then sped away. When it had been closer, he could make out its shape under the sand better. It had a large, smooth head and a thin, long body. Those proportions would not belong to a regular snake.

"B-Berwald…"

"You're safe. I got you."

When he was sure it was far off, Sweden placed Max back down and they kept moving.

They practiced everything again. In what seemed like an hour, Sweden gave him new words. He told him how to say each of the five Nordics he had learned about in Swedish. He also taught him the word for Swedish. From now on too, Max could practice by replacing the English word with the Swedish ones whenever they were to talk about them.

"So Finland is just Finland?"

"Ja."

Max understood that _ja_ meant yes. He asked how to say no, to which Sweden replied, "Nej."

"Sverige."

Sweden turned his head out of habit when he heard his name in his own tongue.

"Island… Danmark."

Sweden kept nodding.

"What was Norway again?"

In Sweden's peripheral vision he saw something white rising from the sand. When he turned his head, it had ducked under the sand too fast for him to properly see it.

"Norge," he answered.

"Norge and Island älskar fish," Max said. "Finland älskar salted licorice. Sverige and Danmark är vän."

"Vänner," Sweden explained. "That is the plural."

"Friends?"

"Ja."

Something poked up again on the side where Max's view was blocked by Sweden's body. This time Sweden saw the top of the round head before it disappeared.

"Sverige och Danmark är vänner…" he murmured absentmindedly to Max as he came upon a realization. The head had resembled something, because it had been white and smooth with cracks over the surface.

"Max," he uttered. "The things moving around right now- they won't hurt you. Don't be afraid of them."

"O-Okay…"

"Can you say _katt_? It means cat."

It was becoming increasingly more important to distract Max. Sweden heard sand shifting and he tried to get in the way so Max couldn't see the sand rising as something moved along beside him.

"K-Katt."

He flicked his eyes down to the child. Max was hearing as well the sounds beside Sweden and was trying to see what was there. Sweden then glanced to his other side and checked that the sliding creature under the surface was two metres away.

"Katt and hund." Sweden tried to keep his voice steady.

"Katt and…"

The sand sprayed Sweden's shoes when the creature swerved around to be in front of them. Max almost stepped on it and he leapt backwards with a shriek, letting go of his hand. From the ground a skull rose attached to a spine, vertebrae like scales and curling like a snake. The jaw opened with the few tendons connecting it to the skull, baring an almost complete set of teeth.

Max screamed. It struck like a viper in the blink of an eye.

Sweden had already been stepping out in front of Max and before he could realize what had happened, teeth clamped onto his arm. It hurt more than being bitten in the forest had- these teeth were hard like stone and the jaw was abnormally strong. He yelled out and skipped sideways, trying to shake it off. It let go on its own and dropped to the ground where it immediately rushed to Max.

Sweden stomped his foot down on the spine whereon the creature promptly turned and bit his leg. Sweden grimaced and reached down to grab it. He lifted his foot and yanked it off him despite how it tore off a piece of him with it. With his hand locked around the base of its skull, he held it up and at a distance as it snapped at him and writhed. The spine flicked out jerkily in all directions while Sweden debated what to do with it.

Throwing it away wouldn't be a good idea if it would just return. There was also the matter if what he was doing now was considered fighting, which one of the rules forbade. He was supposed to ignore things like this although now clearly he wasn't. Yet it could not harm him now, so why not fight it? Try to destroy it by breaking the head off the spine?

 _More may come that I cannot fight_ , he thought. _Destroying one of these might not turn out in our favor._

This world was unpredictable. Sweden needed to stick to the rules if he wanted to stay safe. Thus he cast the creature as far as he could before quickly saying to Max, "Close your eyes and get on my back."

It was swiftly arranged. Sweden saw the sand moving as it came back and they could both hear it. Sweden said, "Do not be afraid. It will not reach you."

That was not true; he knew it could jump high. However Max needed a false sense of security and blindness for everything to work out.

"Berwald," Max whimpered nonetheless. "Are you okay? Why's light coming out of you? I-Is that bad?"

"I'm okay. And don't worry about the light, because everything will heal fast."

Sweden walked on, making sure to kick sand as he went to mix up the sound of the creature now following them with his own movements. To divert Max's attention once more, Sweden asked, "What's your favorite school subject?"

It was a random question but like with many small children, Max was keen on talking about his daily activities.

"Reading! I love stories."

Well, Sweden didn't think that reading was a subject and assumed that Max didn't remember the word _literature_ which was probably used for the subject in elementary schools. Regardless it was best to let him talk.

Max continued, "Like when we get to sit on the carpet and listen to Ms. Flynn reading a story! Like ones with the bears, or little mice…"

Sweden nodded along and grunted in affirmation every once and a while as Max went on and on about the things he did in class. The games they played for gym, including his favorites and least favorites, what he had just learned in math, what Magic Tree House book he was on, how this Ms. Flynn was the best teacher _ever_ , and how his friends played tag every recess. Sweden couldn't help but feel more attached to the child as he listened, feeling more and more that he was his parent. He learned Max's life through the inane but all so important details he was given.

 _He must be real because the creatures attacked him_ , Sweden had decided. With that belief as well, he allowed himself to care more about the child's well-being.

 _He is so dear. He has a wonderful life to get back to._

Longer Max talked until they went back to the Swedish vocabulary words. As he listened, Sweden thought again, _Not everything here is real… So what does that mean?_

Were the creatures real? They certainly seemed so, being able to inflict harm. The mountains? This sand? Were these things really here as well? Sweden recalled the sea he had set out on and how by sinking through the seafloor had brought him to the other side. It made him wonder then, if the other half of the sea was an illusion or if the water itself was also not real. His memories of the cold depths were vivid but perhaps he had imagined the cold, for weren't there times when in the mountains if he thought about Finland he felt warm?

"Sverige!"

Sweden immediately perked up when he heard his true name called again.

"Kanada," he replied.

"Canada?"

"Yes. The same word but with a K."

Now he got himself thinking of the personification of Canada only to realize how seldom he thought about him. He scolded himself for that internally. He would have loved to be in Canada right now having a little fika with him.

He labored over the next dune to immediately find an oasis awaiting them. The red sky was reflected in the water, making it appear as though the lake was dyed with food colouring. Until then Sweden had forgotten about hunger and thirst. Once before in the forest when he had run, he had become thirsty yet had since never thought of it again.

 _I don't need water. It is a trick._

Max was quiet. Sweden took from this that he was obediently keeping his eyes closed, otherwise he most likely would have asked to have a drink.

 _Wait. Why didn't I see this from the mountain?_

When they had looked down at the desert, he had never seen any water, only dunes until the wall which Sweden saw now as a black line in the distance.

 _Is the water not real? Does it only appear to those close to it to tempt them?_

Sweden stared at the water. With his piercing glare behind the glasses he had already reset on his nose, he tried to see past the opaque surface. After a few seconds, the red faded in strength until he could see only sand and no water, and dozens of headless and spineless skeletons poised to strike. When he relaxed his gaze he only saw the still surface of the water again but a shiver ran up his back for having had seen the dark secret lying below.

He walked around the oasis without a word. He noticed then that the creature had stopped following them and for that he felt a sort of relief. That is until once over the next dune, three mounds of sand shifted and followed him. Their movements were loud and Max tightened his hold on him. Sweden murmured more words of comfort to him and felt him relax.

It was amazing to have his voice act as a calming balm instead of as an intimidating Sweden wondered if he took a turn talking, if it would do better. He decided that because Max liked stories, he would recall one and tell it the best he could to him.

And so he told a story about the Moomins to him, describing the pictures with the cute, hippopotamus-like creatures, and voicing their quotes. It was one of the beloved children's books from Finland and written originally in Swedish, so naturally Sweden knew it well.

Near the end of the story however, Sweden was glad that he had told Max to keep his eyes closed. Apart from the skulls on spines rising from the sand, a field of fire was now before them. The flames licked high and he could feel the heat already. Turning his head, he saw no way around it. He cringed to see black skeletons lying sprawled on the ashy sand which were now lifting themselves once noticing him. They ambled forward and Sweden knew that even if he did not step down into the field of fire they would come for him.

"Max, I'll finish the story," he said. "But first, I want to hear something from you."

"What?"

"Tell me about someone you love, who you want to go home to."

"Okay."

"Keep your eyes closed."

Sweden knew that the fire wasn't real. Like the oasis, it hadn't been seen before from above. He inhaled deeply as Max began telling him about his parents, then stepped into the inferno. The tongues touched his face and undoubtedly would have reached Max. Sweden feared that the child would shriek in pain, but all that emanated from him were words of love. Charred skeletons crept closer, but Sweden looked forward to where the sand recommenced.

This scene could only be described as Hell if Sweden were to be asked about it. He was surrounded by fire and monsters intent on punishment and destruction, yet he trusted their security. There was an end here. A chance. Hell, Purgatory or something else- for Sweden did not know if this place was ecclesiastical, they were allowed to leave with minimal provocation.

It was nice hearing about how much Max loved his mom and dad. It made Sweden want to take him home more than ever, for even if it would be sad to part from someone who felt like a son to him, he would be honored to send him back to this life. This determination drove him through the fire, to see past it until it no longer existed, and to push away the skeletons in his way and from touching Max.

Once out of the field, he praised Max for being so good then, as promised, he finished the story. With the child not knowing about anything that had just transpired, Sweden asked casually, "Did you like the story?"

"Yeah!"

"There're cartoons too. You can find them online then watch them if you'd like."

 _When you're home again_ , his mind whispered.

He started another Moomin story for him. It killed the time as they came closer to the black wall. Sweden checked the sky, finding it still cloudless and deep red, but still felt happy. He was proud of everything he had accomplished. He had walked for a long time, crossed many lands, endured pain, and passed many tests… when looking back now it all seemed so simple.

As though there was no failing now.

Sweden pushed up a dune then stopped. Below him, a woman cocked up her head and cried, "I knew I heard someone!"

He went down the dune toward her. His senses were heightened but compared to what he had just went through, he assumed that whoever he would find on the other side couldn't be so harmful. Afterall, she had the atmosphere of someone fresh from college, determined, intelligent, and full of potential. She had a walking stick that was taller than herself which she leaned on nonchalantly.

When closer however, she jumped back with a gasp.

"What is _that_ on you?"

"What do you mean?" he muttered. He felt Max stir on his back.

"The dead thing."

Sweden blinked. "He's alive."

"I-I'm alive…" she whispered. "But that thing is beyond death… how do you not see?"

He only continued to stare at her. Was she lying? Why was she saying that she was alive…?

"He is alive," Sweden stated again. "I am too."

"I see that you are… not a monster but…" The young woman pointed over his shoulder. "It is rotten. Can't you see it?"

"No."

"It-Its skin…"

Sweden had taken such a liking to Max that he wasn't being swayed. Weren't his stories so detailed? His attitude so childlike?

He mentioned now, "He was attacked by the creatures."

"You're being tricked." Her eyes were wide. "Don't you know, how the monsters here will do anything to mess with you?"

"I do," he stated. "But he is not a trick."

"How can you know? Did you ever… see him _bleed_? The golden light of life? I have it. And if you are honest, you have it too."

"I haven't seen his."

Max adjusted his hands on Sweden's shoulders and buried his face into his neck. He could tell that he was afraid by his new clinging and shivering.

"Here." The woman lowered the staff so that the tip of it pointed toward Sweden. "The top has a point. Prick him with it and you'll know for sure."

Max likely had his eyes open by now, because Sweden heard him whimper then say shakily, "B-Ber…"

The tip was long and thin; a thick sliver that would likely break off but manage easily the job of drawing _blood_.

"No."

"How did you make it this far?" She frowned. "You're being foolish. It is just a prick anyway."

It was not just a "prick".

"I am not going to hurt him."

She moved the staff closer. Sweden stepped back.

"Do it!" she hissed. "Before that demon is the end of you!"

It was at that point that Sweden remembered the words of the first Original he had talked to. The living person had been called a _he_ , not a _she_. Sweden decided to peer hard at the woman like he had with the oasis and the fire.

"I think," he said, "the only demon here is you."

The image of the woman, at least in his eyes, was gone. The outlines were there still, but he could see the taller black skeleton there holding the staff and regarding him with pupils glowing like the fire behind him. It had leathery, batlike wings that were stretched out to a grand length and were attached to the spine. Sweden looked to where its real eyes were and it tilted its head as though out of curiosity.

"Incredible," it said. Sweden heard the female voice in the background of the hoarse one now clearly heard. "No wonder you have made it here. You will surely, make it through the Maze."

Max was terrified and confused. Sweden heard him crying quietly into his hood.

"Nothing will stop me," Sweden uttered. "I am going home and he is too."

"The next stage is the hardest. It is… different. Sometimes, unfair. Something might go wrong for you."

He asked, "Am I going to meet the Face-Stealer?"

The black skull slowly nodded.

"I know to not be afraid," Sweden said. "Before I ended up here, I learned some rules."

"About here?"

"Yes."

"Tell me them, kindly."

Sweden, with a face of stone, did as he remembered them.

"Never be afraid. Never stop moving. Do not run or fight. Stay focused. Resist all temptations. Never look back."

"It's good," it rasped. "But I think another one should be added, one that is crucial to the next stage. Listen. You deserve this one."

Sweden waited obediently.

" _Never give up_ , for no matter what happens, don't let yourself stay down when you fall. Get back up. Again, and again, and again. It is not easy, but you are stronger than you know. I see you as you see me, so believe it and fly."

"Thank you."

The guise of the woman was completely gone. Max squeaked and his fingernails dug into Sweden's skin as the Original was there suddenly to be seen flapping upwards. Sweden proceeded forward as though all was normal, which by then it felt just about that way. He heard its wing beats growing fainter and he felt Max shift on his shoulders to look after it.

Nothing bothered them for the longest time. Max wanted down, so Sweden set him onto his feet and stretched his back. They walked hand-in-hand again afterwards, approaching the wall. In a short while they were close enough to easily see the gray metal doors of the ebony-black building. They headed to one of them on a beeline, although Sweden felt an anxiousness blight him although he hadn't been disturbed by the creatures in a long time.

He wondered why he wasn't supposed to look back at the Face-Stealer. He had spent so much time here, seen so many things, so what could possibly be more horrifying than rotting, undead creatures? What could it look like, and why would its reflection not be as terrifying as itself?

Then, of course, he was concerned about Max. His eyes would have to be closed for the entirety of the labyrinth they were coming to. He assumed, that as long as Max did this they would manage.

The door was ten metres away and the wall of the building stood at three times his height. It was akin to a massive creature waiting to swallow them up. Sweden glanced down to Max and saw that his eyes were open now and regarding the building.

"Max, listen," Sweden said. "It's important. You have to keep your eyes closed for the entire time we are in here."

"Okay."

And he shut his eyes. Sweden took the moment to stare at him, but no matter how hard he looked he only saw the child there. He could not peel away any guise like he had with the Original.

 _He's real. I have to protect him._

"We'll be home soon," Sweden uttered as he took hold of the handle.

The door was heavy, creaking open slowly with a groan. Dim light trickled out although no light source could be identified. It allowed himself to see his and Max's reflection in the first huge mirror he saw clearly. They stepped inside and the door pulled itself closed behind them, shutting with a loud boom that shook the floor and mirrors.

To the right and left were long halls with each side covered by mirrors, all towering too high for him to be able to jump up and grab their tops. He could see the reflections of them as well at the far ends of each hall before each turn. In that way he would always be able to see anything far behind him.

Sweden decided to take them right. Thus began their journey through the infamous Maze of Mirrors.


	8. The Maze of Mirrors

_He said I never left your side_

 _When you were lost I followed right behind_

 _Was your foundation_

 _Now go sing it like a hummingbird_

 _The greatest anthem ever heard_

 _Now sing together_

* * *

Sweden was growing so nervous that he was afraid to talk. He had reverted back to his usual silent nature as he observed his surroundings and was careful about his movements. The mirrors were getting to him, peeling back the layer of bravery that he had established before entering this part of the Land of Eternal Night. If no one had told him that this area was so horrifying, then he was sure that he wouldn't have had the fear that he had now.

He knew he couldn't be afraid, but now he understood Max's feelings. When there was such pressure to not be afraid, it could make one even more terrified. Sweden fixed his eyes on the mirror at the end of the next hall they turned to and only saw himself and Max in the reflection. He was always expecting the worse, that soon there would be something seen behind them, heard dragging itself slowly after them.

 _Calm down. Everything will be fine if I don't look at it._

Sweden twitched. He connected his thought suddenly to one of the original seven rules Denmark had read out to him.

 _Never look back._

Was it this section that rule had applied to? The rule hadn't mattered for the other areas particularly, so it meant a lot if one rule was made just for a single part of the land. Sweden became more anxious. He wanted to get out of here fast without encountering anything.

But he knew that was unlikely. Upon their arrival, the door had shut with such a loud boom that whatever was lurking in here would have awoken and mobilized. Sweden could sense a tenseness in the atmosphere. He knew they were being hunted at that very moment.

Max sensed it too. He asked in a low voice, "Are we okay?"

"Yes," Sweden murmured. Although they were walking quickly, they both were setting their feet down softly.

"How long will we be in here?"

"I don't know."

He did not want to say that they would be out soon. He didn't know how long this maze was but it was not so complicated. There were not many choices in the paths they could take and they were essentially directed to where they would go. Sweden started getting the feeling that it did not matter which way they went, for what was likely was that any way would take them to the end.

The point was to raise dread. To always wonder which path took them closer or farther from the monster, making them wonder where it could possibly be.

Max pressed into him. Sweden let go of his hand to put his arm around him and lead him along. His hand touched his little ribs and Sweden realized suddenly how fragile Max was. He was so small. Anything here could break him with ease and something here definitely wanted to.

"You're safe," Sweden whispered. "I'm here for you."

His own whisper made his hairs rise. Max did not respond to him and Sweden wanted to say more although he was so worried about making noise. The child turned however to hug him tightly and Sweden stopped for a moment to return the embrace. His careful hold only made Max tremble more and Sweden felt rising dread as Max began to cry into his stomach.

"Shhh," Sweden sighed and pet his hair. "Don't cry."

He didn't want to stay in one spot but he wanted to comfort him. Sweden picked him up then started to walk, letting Max wrap his arms around his neck instead and put his wet face against his collarbone.

"I want to go home," he sniffed.

Sweden mumbled, "I know."

"I don't want to stay here forever," Max whined.

"Shhh," he exhaled again. "It's okay. Just tell me… Do you remember your words?"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Go ahead then, Max," Sweden whispered.

"Kä-kärlek…"

"Yes. Love," Sweden breathed out through a tight throat.

"Danmark…"

He kept murmuring gently to Max but Sweden's heart bounced when to his side something manifested in the mirror. A decayed, eyeless face with straw hair and a black hole of a mouth appeared in the middle of the mirror as though it was floating in the air to his side. Yet, Sweden knew that nothing was there beside him. It was not a reflection at all but…

 _A warning._

Sweden saw a split up ahead. The stress was building. It was close, but which way would lead him toward the monster he was avoiding? He continued speaking to Max and tried not to betray his worry as he stalked up to the end of this hall. Sweden looked left then right and could see nothing yet and no more faces. There was no way to know where to go.

Sweden went left with a grimace.

"Finland," Max said.

"Yes."

"Ja," the child murmured.

Sweden returned quietly, "Ja."

Two faces appeared, one in each mirror to his sides. He didn't know now, if that meant if he was walking closer to the Face-Stealer or if it was coming up behind him. He wondered if he should hurry on ahead or turn around and take the other route. He listened carefully but heard nothing. As he stood there though, a third face appeared in another side mirror. Sweden was forced into a decision and so he rushed forward.

 _There's no way of knowing_ , he thought. _Just keep going. Never stop moving._

But he wondered what were to happen if he met the monster head on. He had been told not to look at it, not turning around if it was seen in a reflection, but what was he to do if he turned a corner and found it there?

"Tell me," Sweden said to Max, "what you remember about _Island_."

Sweden listened to Max speaking but it was no longer about just distracting him. Max was settled in his arms, more relaxed in a strong but cozy hold. Sweden was the one who was the most stressed, having the responsibility of protecting two lives and always wondering if he could do it.

Max soon ran out of things to say about Iceland. His head shifted on his chest, onto a dry part of his sweater as he asked Sweden, "Berwald, can you tell me more about Island?"

"Of course. What do you want to know?"

"Do you like Island?" Max murmured.

"I like all the Nordic countries… I love them all."

"How many times have you gone to Island?"

"Quite a few times," Sweden replied. "Although, I think I'll go there more often after I get back."

"Why?"

"I have a dear friend there, who might be lonely. Island is far away from the others but I don't want my friend to feel forgotten. He usually comes to us, so I'd like to surprise him now and then by coming to his house."

These ideas were new, just being created at that time. But they settled in the pit of his heart, sharing the weight of his old promise he had created long ago on the Starlit Plain. He wanted to visit Iceland and make him feel more included, because no matter how Iceland seemed irritated and cold, he had a need to be loved like the rest of them.

"That's nice," Max said. "I have a friend too that I want to see… We play all the time after school. He used to go to my school but then… his parents wanted him to go to another one. But I still see him and… I miss him…"

They turned the corner. Again Sweden had a scare when their reflections appeared in the mirror at the end of the hall, but once he recognized that nothing else was there his heart rate went down a bit. It was easier to relax as well now that there were no dead faces in the mirrors. They were moving farther away from the monster.

Curious now, Sweden inquired, "Where did you find the flowers? Were you out playing with someone or were you alone?"

"They were in the garden," Max whispered. "It was nighttime but I wasn't sleepy yet. I looked out my window to see if there were any raccoons outside but then I saw something come out from the ground. It was black, but then I saw these really, really pretty flowers bloom! I knew we had a vase and I thought that my sister would like it if I put a couple in one for her. I went outside but… I tried to grab the stem and a bunch of thorns hurt me. Th-then something really scary came…"

Sweden wondered why a bush of these supernatural flowers would have bloomed in his yard. Why did they bloom in the physical world where they would tempt the innocent? Where they did grow? A cemetery in Denmark and a family's garden in Canada were very different places but perhaps there was a relation.

"I touched them too," Sweden said.

"I screamed and screamed." Max's hands balled up. "No one came to help me. They couldn't hear me or see me!"

"They would have if they could," he assured him. "They love you very much."

Max nodded slowly against him. "Jag älskar them so much too."

"Ja," he breathed.

"Berwald," Max said. "Who do you love?"

"What do you mean?"

"What about your family?" Max continued. "Don't you have one?"

"I have two adopted sons," he replied, "and a dog."

"Don't you have a wife too?"

"No."

"You don't?" Max asked in a rising tone, indicating his sheer surprise. "So you're alone?"

"Maybe," Sweden answered softly. "But there is someone I love. Someone... I want to confess to when I get back.

"Huh?"

"I never told him how I felt."

Sweden lifted his brows when Max didn't confront him on the masculine pronoun he had used. Either he was accustomed to this sort of thing or he had missed it.

"Why not?" was all he asked of Sweden.

He said, "Because I've always been too scared to do it before."

"Oh."

They were both quiet for a minute until Max started to wiggle. Sweden set him onto his feet and Max sought out his hand again. Sweden checked that his eyes were still closed and found that they were, then looked back forward.

"But why were you scared?" Max decided to ask after the pause.

"Because," he murmured, "I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"I don't get it…"

"He might feel betrayed because I never told him. You see, I've known him for a very long time."

"What will you say then?" Max piped up.

Sweden hesitated. "I don't know yet. Just that… I love him."

"Why is that bad? My mom and dad say that to me all the time!"

"Because they know that you love them too. For me it's… different. I don't know," he sighed. "It is hard to be friends when it is known that someone cares more about the other than the other does about them. Or when someone wants to see the other more but the other person wants to be alone."

"Okay, I get it now," Max told him.

Sweden shook his head although no one saw him do it. His heart had grown heavy and sat like a rock in his chest as sadness washed over him. While he was sure to fulfill his promise and talk to Finland, he feared how he would be received. He thought it was foolish to believe that Finland would jump into a hug with him in joy, saying that he had only been waiting to hear him say those words. He wanted such an uncomplicated turnout yet it just seemed too good to be true.

 _He doesn't act like it, but maybe he hasn't forgiven me from the mistakes I made in the past._

They rounded another corner and still, nothing manifested in the mirrors. He then remembered the threat lurking in the maze, but noted as well that talking about Finland had yet again distracted his mind.

 _Think of him_ , he told himself. _Like I did in the forest. Think of him and forget everything else._

"But," Sweden said. "If nothing is ruined, no matter if we will have a family or not, there are many nice things I want to do with him."

"Like what?" Max squeaked.

In an instant Sweden relapsed into his past ideas. He explained the candy box present he wanted to make, the icy holes he wanted to jump into, the saunas they would sit in and talk, the holidays he would gladly help out with where he would learn Finnish recipes-

"He's from Finland?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you like that place so much?"

A smile touched his lips. "You're right. It is."

Max beamed, proud of his deduction. There was then a lull in the conversation, where Sweden wondered what to talk about next. As much as it helped to talk about Finland, he didn't want to bore Max. Luckily Max said, "I want more words!"

"Swedish?"

"Ja! Svenska!"

"Okay then. _Sol_ means sun."

"Soul!"

"It's close," Sweden said.

"Another one!"

" _Måne_ is moon."

"Monuh," he mumbled.

Sweden wanted to introduce the third additional letter of the Swedish alphabet that he had not yet shown Max. He wanted to show him what it looked like and teach him it. A visual might have been good for his learning, but he didn't want Max to open his eyes even to look at something he had drawn in the moisture his breath left on a mirror.

"Måne. Can you say Å?"

"Oh-uh."

"It is another letter," Sweden said. "An A with a circle over it. Å. Måne."

"Moahne."

"Keep trying," he told him tenderly.

"Moarne. Mouahne. M-M..."

"You can do it. I know you can."

Directly after saying this Sweden stiffened at the sight of a face up ahead and to his left manifesting in the mirror. The dread returned and he had been so startled that he had only caught the end of what Max had said.

"Was that one good?"

"Can you say it again?" Sweden rumbled as he stared at the shriveled face that was different than any of the others he had seen before.

"Mone."

"That's fine."

"Sol!"

He drew Max closer as another face appeared beside him. The Face-Stealer was coming near again, hunting for them. Likely hearing their voices and homing in on their location.

"Shh," Sweden reminded him. "Not so loud."

Telling Max to stay quiet had reminded him of their current situation. Max's grip on his hand tightened and Sweden automatically regretted what he said although it had been necessary.

"We're safe," he whispered to the child. "I'll protect you, don't worry. Just don't open your eyes."

They walked more quickly. Another face appeared in a mirror. After another few seconds, an additional new face took form. One of Sweden's feet squeaked on the polished floor and he cringed. His heart spasmed and he tried to control himself before Max felt any shivering.

 _We're okay. Just don't look back. It's no different than the other creatures. Don't be afraid._

"- _fell into the river. It was hilarious!_ "

Sweden deadpanned. That was Finland's voice.

" _Shut up! Why'd you tell him that?_ " he heard Denmark groan. " _He's going to bug me about that later!_ "

He was being visited again, but the knowledge of this was not comforting. It meant that his heart rate was out of control again.

" _I will too_ ," Norway muttered. " _It was dumb of you, after all. The duck was fine_."

Sweden respired carefully. He had just started to hear Iceland but his voice faded away soon enough. It was confirmed though, that they had all come at once to see him and talk to him. He wanted to hear their words of course, but there was no choice as to what he was going to do now.

"Are we almost there?" Max asked, quieter now.

"I don't know," he was forced to reply again.

The path split into three ways this time. He had originally thought that this was just a longer hall but now he saw the options up ahead to turn left or right. Another face took a spot in the mirror up ahead to the right and Sweden wondered if the Face-Stealer was approaching from one of these halls.

When he stepped into the intersection, he froze. To the right he saw for the first time something else in the maze other than mirrors. A corpse was crumpled up and slumped against a mirror but for once it did not move at all as he came closer. Even when Sweden stopped for a moment to observe it, it still did not move.

He remembered long ago on the mountain when he had been so spooked by moving corpses. Now, it was strange that he was so horrified by one that did not move. He couldn't help but twitch from a massive shiver that raced up his spine. He then gawked at the hole where its face once was. There was no bone inside, only complete blackness. It was undeniable that this was the fate of someone who had confronted the Face-Stealer.

A face hovered over the corpse in the reflection of the mirror. Opposite to the body, another face developed. Across the hall, faces began to appear in the mirrors, going down the hall toward the end. He glanced down the hall behind him to see that those mirrors were already completely filled and in the hall going straight it as well was gaining some faces. Sweden assumed that behind him, the creature was rapidly approaching. He yanked Max forward with him down the hall being overtaken by faces.

They got ahead of the images in the mirrors. They power-walked ahead until the mirrors were filled only with their reflections. Sweden felt his heart pulsing again and he started hearing voices once more.

" _-you'll hang in there, right, buddy?_ " Denmark said, and Sweden knew that he was addressing him. " _You know I can't wait to see you again._ "

 _Yes_ , he answered in his mind. _I will come back. I just have to stay calm. Calm…_

"Are we okay?" Max whispered. "You're pulling me along… i-is something coming?"

"Max," Sweden said. "Remember in the desert how I protected you?"

"Yeah..."

"It doesn't matter what comes," he continued. "I will protect you from anything."

He had to believe his own words. Sweden broadened his chest and looked forward, swelling up with enough determination until he stopped hearing Denmark. Sweden scrunched up a bit however once he noticed one eyeball abandoned on the floor then another further down the hall. He swallowed but kept moving while making sure that Max did not step on one of them.

Sweden was grimly silent as faces took over the mirrors on either side of him, going up the hall like lights turning on in tandem. Some of the faces he recognized from having had seen them before; they were coming back as they were followed. Sweden tried to out-walk the mirrors filled with them but it was a vain effort. The hall they were in completely filled up.

There was another turn up ahead. Sweden went right to enter a hall already filled. It was no use. The other way was as well, filled with the images of decayed visages. As he walked down past the faces, it was then that he had a strange feeling. The eyeless faces all around him seemed to almost be _watching_ them. Sweden had the impression that perhaps the Face-Stealer could see them through these faces, knowing where they were right now and currently on route to them.

Inhale. Exhale. He focused. He thought of everyone he wanted to get back to: those visiting him collectively at that moment and the others. He remembered every land he had traveled through so far in the Land of Eternal Night and reminded himself that he was strong.

 _Remember the jumps on the mountain? I can do anything if I have the will to. I can run faster and jump further if that is what it takes. I can get out of here too. Nothing will stop me. I will go home. I'll tell him…_

Sweden heard a metallic _chink_ somewhere behind him, echoing around the corner. He watched his and Max's reflection at the end of the hall as they drew near that mirror. Max had his little eyes squeezed tight then Sweden saw his own sharp gaze glaring back at himself. He heard another noise, a sharp one like the blades of two knives being scraped against each other. Now their footsteps seemed so loud in the hall.

He glided forward. Max hurried after him as quietly as he could. They heard metal again, this time a sound resembling the snapping of scissors.

Inhale. Exhale.

"Ber-!" Max yelped.

Sweden whipped around just as he saw two mirrors closing in like doors. They pinched Max's arm and Sweden glimpsed his terrified face, wide-eyed so that he saw his quivering brown eyes- then the mirrors snapped together and they were separated by the new wall. Instinctively Sweden threw himself against them, pounding them with kicks and punches- but nothing worked. Glass that should have been smashed remained as clean and whole as ever.

"Max!" Sweden hollered and banged his fists against the mirrors. "Can you hear me?"

"I can…"

"Don't move!" he shouted. "Close your eyes and don't be afraid! I'll get you!"

"I-I'm scared! Berwald!" Max cried. "Please!"

"Don't open your eyes! Everything will be okay!"

He began to sweat and quake. He turned around and tore off but he felt so weak and woozy as though he had just vomited. Sweden clutched his stomach as tears spilled from his eyes. He needed to get back. There had to be a way back to that spot, there just had to. The Face-Stealer was coming for Max and the child was scared.

"No!" Sweden's tear-strained voice echoed down the halls. "No, no, please-"

Throughout the maze, Max's sob was heard, "Berwald! Th-there's something here!"

Sweden rounded a corner. He hoped with all of his stressed and torn being that there would be a way up ahead that would connect back to the last intersection.

"Please, please," he whined. "Why…"

He heard the Nordics' voices again.

" _His heart rate is going up_ ," Finland whispered. " _More and more… something's wrong._ "

Tears streamed down Sweden's face.

" _N-Nor, is he okay?_ " Denmark asked.

There was a turn. A sob escaped Sweden and he ripped around the corner. He saw another intersection, a path that went forward and one to the side. It looked like the right one, and Max sounded so close-

"Max!" Sweden cried. "I'm-"

But then a bloodcurdling screech rang throughout the halls. Sweden stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes popped. His breath hitched in his throat and he threw a hand over his mouth. His feet started to move again, bringing him to the last bend to where he had been cut off from Max. Before he turned, Sweden saw in the mirror a large, black mist in the glass at the side. Then he turned and saw what it really was.

And he screamed.

He had never seen anything so horrifying in his life. The monster that approached him was much larger than he was and had a spherical body held up on four spider-like legs that were thick near the body but grotesquely thin at their ends. Rising from its back were four long mechanical arms, two standing high and two that tilted out to the side. The two that were upright had thick and deeply curved blades, rusted and hanging, while the ones extending out from the sides were thin and shaped like the blades of scythes.

Black and pointed spikes stuck out from its body where stacks of rotting, eyeless faces were impaled. But it didn't end there. Smaller hooks poked through its gray flesh and on almost each one hung an individual decomposing face. Nearly its entire body was covered by these faces and it was though it was wearing clothes fashioned from the severed and ripped-up human faces of many ages and races. It did not in fact, have any face of its own but it could see him from the faces pinned to its own body. The short black arms and hands it had at its front reached out to him as the mechanical arms as well extended their blades toward him.

Yet the reason Sweden had lost the ability to stand was for something else entirely. He collapsed onto his knees and banged them off the hard floor as plaintive wail escaped him. Sweden trembled uncontrollably and his mind was filled with the loud voices of the other Nordics. But his own sobs were louder, for his round eyes currently were beholding the sight of Max's face dangling from the black claws of the monster.

His strength left with his courage. Sweden's body jerked as he cried violently and he failed to react to the blades nearing him. Slowly they moved until without warning one of them snapped out and caught him in the side. He shrieked and immediately a tall arm fell and the hanging blade swung forward. Sweden gasped when he was hooked under the collarbone and the floor vanished when he was yanked into the air.

He swung from the blades as his body hung limply. Sweden eyes flicked over the monster then to where a small body lay on its side behind it. There were a hole where Max's face should have been, but Sweden blinked when he saw that it was shining out golden light still.

He wasn't dead. Not yet.

Another curved blade flashed out and sank into his oblique. Sweden tossed back his head and screeched in agony. He writhed and tried to shake himself loose from the blades holding him. Light poured out more as he struggled and tore himself apart further. Like prey caught in a trap, he shrieked and thrashed as more agony befell him. He stared at the last blade incoming with bared teeth and sharp eyes. The tip of the blade cut into the skin along his jaw and he sobbed and turned his head away.

He wriggled frantically until a blade tore up his skin and lost its hold on him. Sweden swung out sideways and another blade ripped out from him. Sweden dropped to the floor with a smack but promptly pushed himself up into a kneeling position.

He respired quickly and glanced down briefly at the light escaping him from the three major wounds. Then he locked his eyes on the complete face clasped in the claws.

" _Sweden!_ "

That was Denmark. What followed next was a panicked clamor as he leapt into panicking, shrieked Danish.

Sweden set himself onto his feet and rushed the Face-Stealer. He hollered and lunged for the face but a blade slashed into his back and he slammed into the ground. Sweden screamed again, half in fear, half in rage. He squirmed and pulled himself forward. The blade scraped down the length of his back and he felt the light pumping out of him exactly like hot blood. Sweden raised a shaking hand to the face but then another blade caught his shoulder and the one on his back sunk in.

He was lifted and tossed back. It quickly scuttled where his body struck and rolled across the ground, blades clicking as they reset their positions.

" _What are you doing?_ " Norway screamed. " _Stop!_ "

Sweden was up again. He attacked again and reached for the face yet instantly a hooked blade stabbed him where his heart would have been. Sweden froze and quaked as he checked the metal arm that had impaled him and was poking out from his back. It soon after withdrew the blade and Sweden's legs buckled again.

He looked to the side at Max. The light was still shining out but it was growing paler, losing its luster. The tears streamed down Sweden's face. He felt so weak and insignificant; Sweden had promised to protect him but he couldn't do anything now. He was so tired and he wanted to give in and fall onto his side. But he knew that if he did such a thing, he would never have the strength to get back up.

Yet he had to keep trying. Sweden stared at the small, severed face again and he whispered hoarsely, "Give it back…"

He stood. The monster struck at him with all four blades in the blink of the eye and he knelt with his mouth agape. The blades removed themselves to let more light pour out from the fresh, clean and deep wounds. Sweden rocked back and forth and breathed raspily as he heard more shouting. There was Denmark's shrieking now joined by Iceland's frantic, wordless cries. Norway was now crying out, "Stop fighting! You can't fight them!"

 _But I have to_ , Sweden thought as he pressed on his legs and forced himself back up once more. _I have no choice._

"Give it back," he uttered again.

" _Sweden!_ " Norway shouted.

Sweden launched himself at the creature. His fingers grazed Max's skin before another blade entered his chest like a knife searching for his lungs. He screamed and convulsed before being thrown back again. It waited, watching him with the rotten faces as though expecting him to weaken.

" _You can't do this!_ " Norway screamed. " _You're going to die!_ "

 _No_ , he thought. _It won't win… I…_

Then Sweden finally heard the softer sound among the screaming of the other three in his head. Quiet sobbing. Finland.

 _I'm so sorry._

He sprang. He focused in on the face again and this time he felt strength returning. He felt faster. A mechanical arm swung out which he managed to duck under. He could sense anger in the monster. Its legs tensed. Sweden had one hand on Max's face but finally a blade easily stabbed into the back of his head.

Sweden was raised again and he dangled in the air like a dead fish. His vision blurred and he looked down at the monster. He saw Max again, whose light was still escaping and was still faintly gold. Then Sweden saw his own body. So much light was flowing out of his many wounds and it was such a pale yellow, almost white.

Another blade found the cut it had started before in the side of his face. The tip placed itself back in there to prepare to continue slicing.

The voices from the other world began to fade as weakness overcame him. Sweden struggled with what he had left then dropped to the floor again. He landed on his side and listened to the voices of not the Nordics, but doctors. He heard his own heartbeat too, now so slow.

 _Thump… thump… thump…_

His eyes shut. The creature moved closer. He heard its tiny feet touching the ground and he peeled open his eyes again.

 _No. It can't end like this._

Sweden felt a weightlessness overcome him. His gaze locked onto Max's face which was still now, with his eyes unblinking and lips unmoving. Sweden recalled the times when those lips had moved, when his mouth had told stories of his life, had told him who he loved and wanted to return home to. It brought a fresh influx of tears to his eyes and Sweden pushed himself into a sitting position. Then a kneeling one. Then, he stood.

He felt strange inside. It was as though he no longer weighed more than a feather and all the fatigue was gone. Where had the pain gone? He felt nothing. White light escaped his wounds but they were growing brighter. Sweden squared his shoulders and glared at the Face-Stealer as his back felt like it was erupting into flame.

He did not check his reflection however. Sweden's razor-sharp, blue eyes glared at the monster as absolute passion bloomed in his chest. It shot out his throat in one roar, one so loud and clear that was beyond anything he would have been capable of in physical form.

"Give it back!"

He flashed toward it. He hardly knew he had run because his feet had so briefly touched the ground. Sweden snatched the face from its claws as it stood there as though petrified, making no move to attack him. It was stunned but Sweden had no time to linger on why it would be. He simply raced to Max and draped the face over the hole releasing pale yellow light.

He waited. He hoped with all of his being and he cried gently over the small body. His back was to the Face-Stealer and he could partially see the black mist in the mirror in front of them. He ignored it however and become utterly absorbed with Max.

Sweden watched attentively as the face fused back to him. His crying increased but out of relief. Max's face reconnected without a scar and once completely reattached, his muscles shifted. Max blinked and his mouth opened.

"Berwald..."

Sweden placed his hand on his throat. He felt a regular pulse there that was weak but nonetheless still there.

"I'm here," he sighed and caressed the side of his face.

"You're an angel, Berwald... " Max whispered.

Sweden lifted his head and looked at his reflection. His eyes widened. White light was radiating from him but from his back two magnificent and large wings made of white fire had exploded from him. The tongues of flame flickered and resembled feathers, but long hairlike strands were also hanging off them like snowy tinsel.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

That was when Sweden realized that he no longer heard anything. He lifted a hand to his throat only to feel nothing at all.

His head dropped as a pitiful sob was coughed out. He was out of golden light; his wounds had undone him. What hurt the most was the realization that cut him deeply: that there was no home left for him to go to. Everything he had thought about, everything that had driven him forward was no longer possible.

He was dead.

 _Finland…_

"Why are you crying?"

Sweden only sniffed, "I was just scared for you."

"But you saved me," Max said. "So why are you still crying?"

Sweden covered his face and could only become engulfed in his hand. He forgot Max for a moment as he sobbed loudly into his palm as it felt like the rest of the world crumbled away and he was the only thing left. Never, had he expected that this would happen. He had assumed that he could make it, that his determination would take him to the sun. But the Original of the desert had been right. This stage had been so cruelly unfair.

"Berwald," the child piped up again. "Are you really okay?"

"No." Sweden put his other hand over his face and crumpled into them. "Nothing is okay... I'm dead."

"But… I see gold."

Sweden dropped his hands.

"What?"

"Look." Max looked into the mirror with him and pointed up. Sweden followed his finger to the reflection of his wings and saw that some of the hair-thin strands hanging from them were not white. They were indeed glowing faintly with golden light.

Sweden sniffed and collected Max into his arms. He hugged him tightly and let himself relax. The heat of his back cooled and he felt the weight returning to him. He looked into the mirror to watch the wings disappearing into him and when they were gone, he waited.

Max's tiny hands were felt on his back, rubbing soothing circles. Sweden dropped his shoulders then heard gentle thumping. He put his hand back onto his own throat and he felt it finally- his pulse was there. The last of his tears dripped onto Max's hair, their damp marks unseen either because of his black hair or because they were like many things, not real.

"Let's keep going," Sweden said. "We're almost to the sun, Max. And nothing will stop us."

His wounds were rapidly closing up. As they both got to their feet, they had just about completely healed over. Sweden glanced at the black mist in the glass before the mirrors in front of them peeled back. They fell into place against the wall and the hall stretched out once again in front of them.

They walked forward. The mist did not advance after them but stayed where it was, still in petrified shock. Sweden took Max's hand and lead him down this hall, then the next, and one more before they reached a gray metal door.

"Do you want another word?" Sweden asked as he reached for the door handle.

"Ja!"

Sweden smiled. It made his heart light to hear Max's energetic voice again where he was calm and safe as he was meant to be.

" _Hem_ means home, Max. Isn't that one easy?"

"Hem!"

Max had gotten it on the first try. Sweden glanced down at him with his eyes once again half-closed from contentedness.

"Ja." Sweden pushed open the creaking, heavy door. "Vi är nästan hem."


	9. The Way of Flowers

_We are the heroes_

* * *

He had been here for a long time. Sweden knew this because despite how the sky did not change during passage of time, it was felt in his entire being. His soul was weary from a travel of much pain and stress, of obstacles and forces driving against him. Without ever lying down to rest, he had pushed diligently through blizzards, fire, wind, and monsters, and was still moving.

He wanted it all to be over, so not once did he consider standing even for a few seconds of a break. The longing to rest was strong, but only on a couch with a cup of coffee in hand and maybe someone dear nestled up against his side. Fortunately it was no longer a challenge to proceed forward when the lands they arrived to were nowhere near as challenging. No more corpses were found and it was apparent that all who had made it this far were meant to succeed.

They were still tested however. The moment Sweden and Max had stepped out from the building, a ferocious, howling wind attacked them and nearly pushed them back inside when they were so caught off guard. The land was desolate, all worn stone and gravel with dozens of tornadoes seen in every direction. Sharp, small rocks carried by the wind pelted them and impenetrable, gray clouds had rolled in to blot out the sky.

Sweden wasn't bothered by any of it though, when he held onto the belief that above the clouds a light-coloured sky could be found like hope was under every dark veil that covered it. Sweden knew that the worst of the world had been encountered and the way home would come easier to them. All it took was more footsteps and of course, more time.

Sweden led Max toward a tornado in their path and neither of them feared it. With concentration, it was learned that the gravel, wind, and tornadoes were only illusions. They walked straight and easily, hampered by nothing. The two of them marched through the tornado and another before the storms were behind them and a landscape peppered with plateaus waited to be entered.

The sky cleared over them and was now made of vibrant red, oranges and yellows; the colours that always came before the sun peaked over the horizon. Sweden smiled softly while Max's grin was wide. They padded on with Max decisively walking these last stretches instead of being carried. It was a respectable move but Sweden had noticed a change in Max since they had left the Maze of Mirrors. He was stronger, less afraid. Without faltering he was sure to follow Sweden until the end when they would part ways.

Sweden taught Max a few more words in this quiet land although doing so reminded him of the diminishing time they had left. What words should he teach? There were so many he wanted to share before he could no longer. _Familj_ for family. Now Max could say that he loves his family, which contented Sweden. It was fitting; it was who he was going back to soon regardless.

"Jag älskar min familj!" Max exclaimed.

Sweden exhaled quietly. His heart was already heavy although acceptance flowed through his body. He was sure that he was going to make use of these final days and hours. Sweden went on to tell him how to say _friendship_ , _flower_ , _heart_ , _good_ -

" _Bra_ means good?" Max giggled.

Sweden ruffled his hair, replying, "Ja."

"Jag är bra," he practiced.

Sweden grunted in approval.

The child continued, "Du är bra..."

The small smile returned to his face.

"...min vän."

Tears sparkled in the corners of Sweden's eyes although Max did not look up to see them.

" _Strange that he said that._ "

Sweden nearly halted out of surprise. While his heart was steady, he had heard what was certainly Denmark's voice.

" _It's your fault that he almost died. You promised to protect him, but you didn't_."

A shadow that had been plastered to the wall of a plateau shifted. Max did not seem to see it even as it stepped out in front of them, although Sweden did.

The night-black silhouette of Denmark tried to get in his way, but it was only stepped through. It followed him without hesitation. Sweden cast it a glance and looked over the dark copy of Denmark's wild hair before looking away.

The voice called out from behind him, " _You are a horrible parent._ "

It was obvious that the creature was here to pull at his emotions, but Sweden couldn't care to be disturbed right now. He knew that the incident in the Maze had not been his fault and that he had done superbly to save Max. The attempts to get at him were only grating on his ears.

It heard his thoughts and responded, " _Why did you let go of him_?"

 _You are accomplishing nothing._

Shadow-Denmark was seen turning its head in his peripheral vision as a contemplating gesture. Sweden knew it was trying to find another angle of attack and in the next second it had one. Its stature shrunk slightly and its form remolded, then Sweden heard Finland's voice.

" _You're trying so hard to get back_." The words were spat with a voice still maintaining an innocent and joyous ring. " _And you want to confess to me. But don't you know, I will never love you. Not after how you treated me_."

Naturally Sweden was conscious that this was not Finland, but the voice was dead-on and now it bothered him. He had never wanted to hear those words from Finland yet now he just had. They echoed in his mind, only strengthening his worry that this was what he was going to hear from the real Finland.

"Why are you so quiet?" Max asked.

 _I shouldn't be upset even if it does turn out that way_ , Sweden reminded himself with a shake of his head. _I have to respect his choice. I can't pressure him in any way._

Shadow-Finland uttered, " _Never come back. It is such a relief to not have your terrifying face looming around, so stay here._ "

It knew that the words were crawling under his skin. The fresh assaults startled Sweden momentarily until he remembered to answer Max.

"Sorry," Sweden replied. "What do you want to talk about now?"

The boy gasped, "Another story! Pleeease!"

Sweden let his own worries disperse as he refocused on the present: Max.

 _It may not turn out like that, but there is no point in worrying about the future if there is nothing I can do about it._

But as a final blow, the shadow hissed, " _I hate you_."

He stiffened his muscles as to not flinch from the words of Finland's voice. Sweden tried not to think anything of them, instead just mumbling to Max, "Of course."

Another remembered Moomin adventure it would be. Sweden began the elaborate task of setting up the scene and describing the characters, although by now there was less to explain since Max knew the inhabitants of the Moomin Valley quite well. Stories were undoubtedly the best way to relieve the child's boredom and keep them from counting their footsteps. Sweden gave Max's brain a rest from cramming in new Swedish words and told in fact, many more stories to him.

Inside, he wanted Max to remember these stories or at least the name of the series. Sweden knew that in time, he would probably forget the Swedish words unless, and this was unlikely, Max would develop a desire to continue his Swedish on his own. But at least he could learn about Nordic culture and lessons of love and acceptance by watching the Moomin cartoons at home in English. When Sweden wasn't around to tell him the stories anymore, that is.

As Sweden began another story at Max's request, Sweden realized why it was that he wanted Max to watch the cartoons. Sweden did not want himself to be forgotten. He knew that he would never forget Max, for the parental bond had been established and he was his son to love and protect. But, would the seven-year-old child remember him in return?

He sensed that he was always going to think about Max now and then, wondering what he was doing as he did the all-so mortal thing and grew older. Sweden would think of him for a hundred years, until he would be surely deceased- and then some. And while a hundred years felt like a long time, Sweden knew somehow more certainly in a land where time stood still, that the world kept spinning and going around the sun again and again like the hands on the clock did.

" _Glad_ means happy," Sweden said softly to him after the last Moomin story he would ever tell him had been told.

" _Glad_?" Max repeated it correctly on the first attempt, catching the long a.

"Ja."

Max practiced by throwing together a sentence with the words Sweden had taught him.

"Jag är glad!"

Sweden nodded slowly.

"Är du glad?" he squeaked.

Sweden assumed that Max was still practicing, although he was startled. For a moment it was as though his mind had been read.

"Ja, jag är glad," he sighed.

"Are you?"

Sweden blinked. "Mm?"

"You're making a weird face!"

He now saw Max watching him. Sweden replied, "It's my normal face."

Sweden glanced away for a moment. When he looked to his other side, he noticed that the shadow was long gone and nowhere in sight. He then looked back because Max had promptly exclaimed, "No! It's different now!"

He was stunned. Sweden had not been aware that Max had ever paid attention to his face, which had the reputation of unintentionally intimidating people. Wasn't he too, afraid? He found that the answer was no, for when they locked eyes there was no flicker of fear in Max's.

Perhaps it was because Max had been comforted and protected by the stranger before seeing his face. Sweden remembered now how Max had been blindfolded so it was likely that he had grown to like him first, so by the time the scarf was ripped from his face Sweden was already trusted.

It was just so uncommon that he was not feared. Only people who knew him had the ability to distinguish his emotions and that list still excluded Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, who did not fear him but couldn't pin down when he was smiling. Sealand and Ladonia could and Finland could- his adopted children and his closest friend. It was heartwarming that Max was like them too.

Sweden wanted to be honest. After all, it would be a good practice for the words upcoming that he would say in the physical world to Finland. Thus he told Max, "I'm afraid you'll forget me."

"Why would I do that?" was the immediate protest. "I could never forget you!"

There was that loving warmth inside him again, originating from his chest and spreading throughout his body. Sweden's frown rose until it settled on a smile.

"Thank you," he murmured. "I won't forget you too."

They scooted around the last plateau standing directly in their way. They stumbled over the unexpected, sudden end to this land into soft sand. A salty, refreshing breeze blew over them and Sweden perked at the sound of waves splashing against the shore.

"Look!" Max screamed and jumped up and down in uncontained excitement.

His finger stretched out to pinpoint the object of interest, but Sweden hadn't needed to be told. He had seen it automatically as well. A powerful ray of sweet, golden light shot up and fattened across the sky from a point fixed over an eroded mountain, and it was there the deeply glowing sphere of the sun hovered to be seen by them from over the channel.

"There it is," Sweden breathed.

Max had let go of his hand to do a little dance around him. Sweden stood still though, locked in place and just taking a moment to soak it all in. Home had never felt so close and graspable before when in this world. He inhaled deeply and quivered as an excitement equaling Max's contained itself inside him. The words of the shadow creature were forgotten as Sweden pictured the real Finland's face smiling as it was meant to.

He cast his eyes down to the shore to where a black gondola awaited. It had no one to steer it, but it floated on the water stiffly and was not shifted by the waves. Sweden glanced around and saw no materials to build his own raft so he knew that they were meant to climb into the empty boat.

Max followed him there and they both stepped in and sat down. The boat pushed off on its own in an instant and Sweden warily wondered if they had been meant to swim instead. Surely, this was too easy? Yet off it went, slicing through waves like a knife through warm butter, on a direct route to the mountain.

Sweden realized then that this ride marked the end of the struggle. They had passed all the tests; there were none left. There was the sun that they had rightfully brought themselves to and just a glimpse of it had sealed the deal. The pain was over and now they could relax.

" _Sol_ ," Max mumbled as he crawled closer to him. Sweden opened his arms and let the child snuggle up against his side. The arms closed around him as they both leaned back and watched the lone mountain growing closer. The sun had the appearance of the one of Earth, but it did not burn their eyes to look at it. For the first time ever, Sweden could stare at the dawn sun and appreciate every shade of light radiating from it.

"It's beautiful," Max murmured. Sweden's silence signified his agreement.

The mountain was far away across the water. Sweden had the time to just shut his eyes and listen to the waves roaring around them, feel their spray, and smell the salt again. Perhaps this too was an illusion, but he was willing to accept this one. With his eyes closed as they were, he could believe that he was being carried across the Baltic Sea.

After a while he opened his eyes again and saw that the mountain was looming above them. Sweden cuddled Max and with him watched the land approaching. The sun was eventually blocked from view although they could see its light shining well above them. It was then though that the next subject to focus on became the grass beyond the sand where dozens of flower bushes were in bloom.

And how Sweden knew those roses well. Their petals glowed with the most attractive of fiery hues just as they had in the other world. Yet these ones were either not hypnotizing, or their effect was lost on Sweden. He no longer had the overpowering urge to take one. They were indisputably gorgeous yet he was content to just observe them.

The gondola slid up the shore. Sweden and Max stepped out and plowed through the sand to the grass. They both regarded the roses with a certain wariness, especially their jet-black stems. Sweden wondered if they pricked themselves now, if they would be sent to the start or something worse. Without passing a word though, they both decided to avoid touching the bushes and go around them when their way was blocked.

There was a gentle, upward path that spiraled around the mountain. They followed it but the bushes with the fire roses bordered the path the entire way up. Sweden reconsidered his previous opinion that the tests were done, for now it seemed that the roses were here to tempt them. At the same time nonetheless, their presence calmed him and he couldn't figure out why when one of these flowers had induced this journey of suffering.

Halfway up the mountain, they both looked over the channel to the mainland. They couldn't see so far because this mountain was only approximately half the height of the one they had arrived on beside the moon. The plateaus could be made out and the line of clouds where the eternal storms were raging, but the rest of the world curved out of sight over the horizon. The building housing the Maze of Mirrors could seem as a distant memory when it was out of sight.

"Come on, Max," Sweden exhaled.

They picked up the pace and followed the spiral that grew tighter and tighter. The bushes still followed their every step and when a tender wind kissed them, a scent from the roses was carried that Sweden hadn't smelled before. The thing was though that it wasn't the scent of any flower he was accustomed to. His heart fluttered although he had to contemplate the smell to figure out why it made him feel so fuzzy inside.

That was when he realized that the scent coming off the flowers smelled sweetly of who he loved. He heard Max exclaiming that they smelled like home, but Sweden was caught up by the fact that the flowers smelled like Finland. Sweden was not often too close to him but the comforting, clean scent overtook that house which he often visited, so it was imprinted on his memory.

He grew relaxed when surrounded by that scent as they curved around the final bend and reached the flat top. Grass sighed under their feet as they stopped to behold a gathering of flower bushes and the sun hovering over the drop behind them. Sweden and Max took only a step in its direction before the bushes in the center rustled. Something that seemed to have been napping out of sight among them popped out first its head, then the rest of its severed body floated out.

They both tilted back. A skeleton that was cut above the pelvis rose upwards so that the end of its worn cape touched the petals. It resembled the creature that had taken them here, although Sweden was quick to realize that it was not the same one. The colour of its cape matched the mellow gold one in the sky.

" _Hello._ "

It had not opened its mouth but a smooth, feminine voice had slipped into their minds.

" _I haven't seen anyone in a long time. Your success makes me happy._ "

It was hard to tell with its perpetual grin, but the way it hung in the air with limp arms displayed its tranquility. Max and Sweden both relaxed and waited.

" _You'll need to take one of these_ ," the gentle tone continued as it spread its arms to indicate the flowers.

They hesitated.

" _There is a final test_ , _but this is not it. Look at these flowers- they have no thorns and their petals are so full. They will not hurt you_." It kept its arms out, still inviting them to come forward. " _Go to the sun with one each and the flower will be with you in the real world. It will prove that you have succeeded, and it will turn physical once you have reconnected with your bodies. Keep it as a little reward or give it to someone you love_."

It tilted its head and its empty eyes locked with Sweden's. Before, such a skinless face would have unsettled him, but now he could sense the smile.

" _The flowers only bloom during full moons, but even when cut they will never die._ "

Finally Sweden and Max stepped forward. Now upon closer observation they could see that there were no thorns to be found on the stems. They reached down, twisted them, and each removed a flower for themselves. Nothing bad occurred. The creature watched contently but looked to Max when he asked, "Why are these ones good and the other ones bad?"

" _You mean to ask, why there are bushes in your world_." The skull bowed. " _Unfortunately, it is a necessity. Having the flowers on both sides connect the two places. They turn one thing into another. They make you spiritual if the flowers are physical and release spiritual energy. The flowers you have now are spiritual but radiate physical energy. Without the physical ones, you would have no way home, because you will come out of one on the next full moon. But it is with them that sometimes innocents end up here._ "

Max asked, "So we'll have to take this flower back with us to our bodies?"

A nod. " _You'll rejoin them when you possess these flowers_."

It started to lead them towards the edge. They stepped carefully between the bushes after it.

" _The final test_ ," it said. " _I already know you will pass. It exists only because some people make it here due to their cunning and fearlessness alone. But, those people cannot return. To be allowed to go on to where you need to go, you have to have one thing: love._ "

It raised an arm to the sun and pointed at it with a long finger.

" _Touch it and return home_."

They did not move. Sweden swallowed a lump in his throat and turned to Max as he did to him. There were tears in the child's eyes, for he had just realized as well that the end was upon them.

"B-Berwald…" Max choked.

Sweden knelt. Both were still holding their flowers but Max jumped into him and hugged him tightly with it in hand. He squeezed his waist while Sweden embraced him with only careful tenderness in return.

"We're n-not gonna ever see each other again, are we?" Max gasped and sniffed.

Sweden rubbed his back for a bit without answering. He could sense the creature lingering to the side, watching them, but it was all in the background. This moment was reserved for Max alone.

"It's okay," he rumbled at last. "We'll both be happy and that is what's important. No matter how far apart we are, that fact alone is enough."

"M-Maybe, you can give me your number?" Max whimpered.

Sweden debated this. He didn't want to lose Max, but holding on forever could hurt both of them in the end.

"You need to go to your family," Sweden decided. "Care for them. Love them. I will go to mine and do the same."

Max was quiet, then he started nodding and he whispered, "Okay."

"You're very smart," he sighed. "Stay determined and be good, Max."

"I will."

"I know." Sweden pet his hair one last time then slowly got up to his feet. Max let go of him and lowered his gaze as tears dropped off his face.

"Berwald," Max whispered.

"Mm?"

"Jag älskar min vän."

Sweden didn't even consider wiping away his own cascading tears. He looked down at him, with pride and melancholy shining in his gaze.

"Max," he stated. "Jag älskar dig med."

He hadn't taught Max all those words, but Sweden could tell that he had understood. Even though his voice was deep and usually monotonous, it had still dripped emotion like anyone else's. Max's face revealed that he had recognized the emotions twisting his heart, so the translation of the words was not needed.

They didn't say goodbye because such a thing was too final. Perhaps one day, they might happen upon each other. It was at least certain that not one of them would forget the other, who would always linger as a heart-warming image to retrieve from the corners of their brains like a nostalgic, old photograph.

Emotion ruled again over words. They examined each other's faces and soaked up the feelings seeming to pour out from their hearts like blood from a wound. It certainly did feel like their chests had been slashed, but it was fine. What came out was pleasantly warm and their wounds would heal eventually with some time.

Side-by-side, they finally stepped off the drop of the mountain. They did not fall. They reached for the sun and they _flew_.

* * *

This time it was painless. He felt like he was being wrapped in a warm, summer night wind then blackness gave way to dim colours and the sensation dissipated. It had all seemed like an instant but then he had the feeling in his heart that he had missed another chunk of time. He had needed to wait for the next full moon, and more days had gone by.

A blanket of snow glistened over his feet. Sweden turned in a circle and saw an almost recognizable layout of the graveyard, except everything was softened by the snow and all sounds were muffled. Next to him the comfy house lay tranquilly in the cold and the moonlight glinted off the frosted glass of the window he had once mindlessly climbed out of. The room was dark now, unused by anyone, although the light of the living room bled around the corner as indication that Tom was still awake.

Sweden had left this world in the summer. He was startled and disheartened to find that months had passed yet he was glad that it had not been years. Sweden sighed to himself then checked the rose whose long, straight stem was still grasped in one hand. He lifted it up and wrapped his other hand around it. Sweden stared at the glimmering petals and found that their light was dimmer than those of the snow-dusted roses beside him, despite how these petals were bigger than those ones.

He bent his head down to silently inhale the scent of the rose which still smelled so delightful. It was the fuel that commenced the final journey home. Sweden jogged toward the shadowy path that his feet had walked before. His footsteps made no sound on the ground and left no prints, but his head was full of the sound of many feet shuffling over pine needles like they had once upon a summer.

Everything felt like a dream of a past life. It was hard to believe that he was really here, in the world he had been cut off from for so long. Yet Sweden could not feel the cold or leave any trace, so the feeling of disconnection remained.

When he did end up feeling something though, a cold chill- he was surprised until he knew exactly what had caused it before he saw it. The half-skeleton bearing a black, tattered cape floated between two snow-laden pines. It was so still that it didn't look real, like a prop hanging from a string. Sweden did not tear his gaze away from it but as he hurried by he watched it turn its head to follow him.

He wondered if it too could talk and if it sounded anything like the similar-looking creature had on the flower mountain. It did not say a word however. But when it moved a bit toward him, Sweden stopped, wondering what its intention was. He was not confident enough to keep running if it would make the creature believe that he was running _from_ it. Sweden faced it instead and waited.

It turned its skull head, tilting it one way then the other as it examined the being in front of it. Perhaps it was not used to such a sight. A thornless fire rose was held between two hands and a pair of brighter wings with a sheen of flickering, blazing colours and golden threads were folded behind the traveler's back. Such wings that the owner was just beginning to feel on his back at that time.

Sweden realized then that they had appeared with him, but the excitement of being home had kept him from that realization until that point. Now he extended those wings out to their impressive full length before pushing powerfully off from the ground. No air whooshed by and the pines were not disturbed when he crashed through their branches. Sweden popped out into the open air and left the skeleton creature behind to soar over the forest.

The memory of a pitch black forest returned to him, when he had longed to fly to the sun. He hadn't realized that this desire had crept forward because he had had that ability within him the whole time. Sweden hadn't needed to be put under stress to do it. The end had taught him that the willingness to care for more than oneself was the key to rise over the dregs doomed to suffer.

Sweden felt like an owl flying unseen in the night as they usually were. He felt weightless and fast, and soon he was beyond the forest and heading through a city. He flew past this one then the next, until the rose in his hands had begun to glow brighter.

He perked. He knew immediately that the flower was going to lead him to his physical body so he continued straight on. With the kilometres that went by, it gained more vibrant colours. Sweden only had to correct his direction now and then when it dimmed, but the occasional bongs of the towns' clocks told him that he was proceeding rather quickly.

He watched the journeys of shining cars below him between glances thrown at the rose. With the brightness of the flower increasing, there was eventually a rise in volume from a voice coming from the flower. He hadn't heard it before, but as he flew closer to Copenhagen he could hear it clearly.

Finland's voice, alone, continued for a while and Sweden was trying to decipher what he was saying until it hit him that Finland was speaking _Swedish_. He was reading something to him on this dark evening, likely as a sort of bedtime story before he himself would have to retire to bed. Sweden felt gladdened yet the regular guilt returned because of the reason Finland knew his language.

"' _Då hjälper jag dig.'_ "

The accent was nonetheless endearing, even if the guilt remained. Sweden couldn't help but find the way he rolled his r's cute as he went on.

" _Eli kramade Oskars hand. Han kramade tillbaka, nickade…_ "

Was it bad, that he loved hearing Finland speaking Swedish? It indicated times of oppression, when Sweden had unintentionally mistreated him, but he was happy as he pictured Finland seated at his side, loyally there for an hour or more. How often did he do this? Sweden began to recognize this well-known, Swedish novel and that it was far along in the story. He even regretted that he hadn't heard Finland reading it from the start and any other book he might have read to him completely.

He heard the page turn and he felt what could only be described as _cottony_ as he continued listening to Finland's accent as it strolled through the words. For the first time, Sweden longed to tell him what he was feeling instead of keeping his mouth firmly shut. His mouth itched to voice those three specific words.

Sweden touched down without a sound onto the pavement in front of the hospital he was undoubtedly in. The rose was luminous and practically pulsing with oranges and yellows. Sweden stepped through the doors and passed through the people in his path. He searched the floors for himself, when it was hard to know the right direction now that the rose was glowing as strongly as it would.

The voice was loud as he flapped up and down from the levels. There came a point however, when the voice doubled. Sweden drifted into the room and saw his own pale body stretched on the hospital bed. In a chair at his side, Finland was leaning over a book with his body facing him. His mouth was still moving and reading those words that Sweden loved hearing every syllable of.

He did not hesitate to float into his body. He fit into it like a key clicking into a lock and he woke with a gasp. Finland jolted with a yelp and the book fell from his hands. Sweden hastened to sit up but found his body so weakened that he immediately dropped back. He exhaled when Finland caught him and immediately drew him into a hug.

Finland's quaking breath touched his ear and Sweden felt the slight shivering of his body.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it…" Finland sniffed. "I was afraid that…"

"Mm," Sweden sighed.

The book had been the first thing Finland had dropped. Now, it was his tears. Sweden wanted to draw back and wipe away those tears, to comfort him, but Finland held onto him so carefully tight.

"We thought you were going to die," he breathed out with a hitch. "So many times your heart rate went up and we knew you were in danger..."

Sweden tested out his throat. It hurt to use it and his mouth tasted strange. He managed to rumble nonetheless, "I'm lucky to have such caring friends."

He wanted to accompany the statement with a nuzzle but he didn't dare try it.

"We decided to stay in the end," Finland murmured. "After it looked like you were going to die… We settled at Denmark's so we could visit you and be there in case you needed us. You could hear us, couldn't you? Norway was sure that you could."

"Sometimes," Sweden uttered. "And it helped a lot."

He took a moment to inhale deeply the scent of deodorant, shampoo, and Finland. He wanted to be closer and hug him while telling him the words he wanted to say, but he decided it wouldn't be fair. It would put pressure on Finland if he confessed now when he appeared and was so weak. Finland might not give his honest response if he pitied him, which wouldn't do at all.

That meant he also couldn't tell him yet about how thinking of him had gotten him out of the Land of Eternal Night.

 _When I am healed I will tell him everything_ , he thought. _I have no choice but to wait until then._

"Oh!" Finland cried. "The others- I have to tell them!"

He scrambled to remove a cellphone from his pocket. His arms slipped away from Sweden's sides and instantly he missed the touch. Finland plopped back into the chair and Sweden knew he was ringing up Denmark. In a few moments his loud voice was heard, bleeding through the speaker.

"Hey, Fin! What's up? Did you finish the chapter?"

Finland was suddenly having difficulty speaking.

"H-He's back…!"

He didn't have to explain more than that. Denmark whooped and cheered out swears until Iceland and Norway's voices were heard too, asking if what they believed had happened had. Denmark screamed out the affirmative then there was a collective celebration.

"Did you hear that?" Denmark shouted to someone else on the other end. "Your papa's back!"

Sweden inhaled. Were Ladonia and Sealand there too? Had they come to Denmark like the others had to stay near him? He had never heard them speaking, but there had been many times where they could have and he had missed them.

Norway uttered in the background, "Put them on the phone."

"We're going over now though!" Denmark called back.

But it was done anyway. Finland put the phone on speaker and set it by Sweden's head. Sweden turned slightly and caught sight of the placid expression on Finland's face, then Sweden dropped his gaze as he heard Sealand speaking first.

"You're okay!" he cried.

"Yeah," Sweden mumbled. "I missed you."

Ladonia cut in, wailing, "We missed you too! I-I'm sorry…"

"Why?"

"If I wasn't good… Maybe I was bad, mean…"

"No," Sweden sighed. "I love you both."

He wanted to flick his gaze to Finland but he was cautious and just watched from his peripheral vision as surprise was carved into Finland's face. Sweden knew it was probably strange for Finland to hear such words pass by his lips, but it could serve as a warm-up.

Ladonia and Sealand chorused those words back. Sweden relaxed into the bed and tilted his head back as a smile touched his face. When he felt it, he wondered if Finland had noticed it when he came and took back the phone.

"We're coming!" Denmark cried in conclusion. "Don't you move!"

Just before the call was terminated, Norway sighed, "It's not like he's going anywhere..."

Sweden wanted to voice his agreement but he regressed to his usual silence. He stroked his fingers over the petals of the rose hidden under the blanket, fully content with the knowledge that he was here to stay.


	10. Days Gone By

" _Hey_ …"

Sweden flopped his head to the side, his eyes still closed.

" _Wake up_."

Something warm and soft touched his shoulder. It stayed, shaking him carefully. Darkness turned to orange locked behind his eyelids, then another gentle warmth touched against his chest. Sweden's eyes finally peeled open and he was immediately blinded by the light.

 _Morning already?_ was the first thing he thought. He remembered the hospital days, forced to recover there until he was strong enough to leave. He thought of the exercises he would have to do that day, the visits he would receive- but then he remembered.

Those days had past. He felt that he was strapped to a car seat and when he tossed his head over to the side, he saw Finland next to him and haloed by the afternoon sunlight. Sweden had been taken back with them to Denmark's place, not his house but definitely what he now considered to be home. The place where his family had waited months for his return.

During his period of recollection, Finland had reached over him and undid his seatbelt. Sweden snapped back into reality after he heard the sharp click and he felt the seatbelt sliding over his chest and catching on his shoulder. His view was filled by the side of Finland's face, so close that he could whisper into his ear if he wanted to. A lock of hair tickled his eyelashes and Sweden instantly felt a flutter in his chest.

Thoughts raced through his mind, concerning how utterly happy he was to be back here and with everyone. He was especially glad to be so close to Finland, able to feel that he really was there and no longer disconnected from him. Sweden shouldered off the seatbelt and moved out as Finland did, as though following his warmth.

Sweden stepped onto the pavement of the driveway and the others cheered, clapping for him and coming closer. Finland was lost in the crowd that arrived; the many hands that wanted to lead him to the door. Sealand's and Ladonia's won, clasping onto his then pulling him up to the house. The other hands still came though, finding parts to pat as they let him know that they were there for him.

The keys rattled in a perceived merry manner as Denmark unlocked the door. Sweden stood behind him with a child on either side as the door swung open to reveal a huge, gleaming banner that read, _Welcome Home!_ Sweden smiled as he was towed inside, tilting his head back to regard the multitude of balloons and ribbons overtaking the ceiling and walls.

Denmark turned back and caught Sweden in a tight embrace, crying out as he did, "Surprise, _Sverige_! We missed you lots!"

Ladonia and Sealand released him, allowing Sweden to put his hands on his back. Denmark still held on as he continued, "We're going to make you a feast, even if you can't eat much! We have to celebrate, you know! It'll be great!"

Sweden agreed, "Mm, thank you."

Denmark hopped back and replied, "It's our pleasure, buddy!"

Sweden happened to glance down to the ground and there he saw Hanatamago there with her fluffy nub-of-a tail wagging side-to-side in a blur. She yipped once when noticed, then she dashed up to place her front paws on his leg. Sweden scooped her up then cuddled her to his chest, burying his face into her soft fur to pepper her with silent kisses. He scratched her behind the ears and she squirmed to lap his face in return.

Finland walked around until he was in front of him. "She really missed you!" he proclaimed.

Sweden rumbled, "I missed her too."

"We took her to see you!" Sealand piped up. "She was cuddling with you, in the hospital!"

He wished he had known. He imagined briefly his many journeys and wondered where and when she had been with him in his struggles.

Norway came forward now. "We bought you some clothes," he said, "because you'll probably be staying here recovering for a while still."

Sweden nodded.

"We got games too!" Finland stepped in closer. "So you won't get bored!"

Sweden felt himself smiling again. He mumbled, "Thanks again."

Denmark offered, "Hey, while you're waiting, why don't you play a game?"

"Yeah!" Ladonia seconded. "Please?"

Sweden made an affirmative noise. In the next minute he was set onto the couch in the living room and a variety of board games were presented to him.

"Pick something where everyone can play," Sweden uttered in the end, unable to choose.

"Monopoly then?" Iceland said.

A nod. The coffee table was cleared off then the children hurried the lid off the box.

"Darn, I'd have wanted to play," Denmark commented by the doorway to the kitchen. "But now I got stuff to do."

Norway said, "I can help you with the preparations."

He stood and followed him into the other room. Iceland sat down on one of Sweden's sides, looking embarrassed to be put in front of a game but was not complaining. As he took part in the setting-up, Mr. Puffin swooped in from across the house and settled on his shoulder. Sweden felt a feathery head touch his neck before the bird transferred from Iceland's shoulder to his.

"He's being surprisingly nice," Iceland murmured with a glance over to him.

Finland sat on Sweden's other side. Sweden pet Mr. Puffin's back and looked to the new arrival. He was already starting to help the others, but Finland seemed either so occupied by this that he didn't notice how his side was touching Sweden's, or he wasn't bothered by the contact. Nevertheless, Sweden enjoyed it and leaned in slightly against him.

"Want some background noise?" Iceland asked.

"Sure," Sweden answered.

Hanatamago was back again and she barked gently at his feet before jumping up. She landed on Sweden's knees then slipped down into Finland's lap. Finland immediately doted on her, caressing her and cooing. Black eyes like marbles fixated on Sweden and he reached over to quickly pet her.

Iceland turned on the television. A commercial ran as everyone decided the order of play, but once Sweden's dice landed on the first roll, Spongebob came on and the Danish opening blasted out. Sealand and Ladonia jumped in startlement and whirled around in horror. Finland covered his mouth and giggled as Iceland cried, "Good god, what is this?"

Denmark shrieked, " _Hvem bor i en ananas dyb i det blå_?"

"Are these words?" Sealand wailed.

Iceland sighed, "That's regular Danish."

"Hey!" Denmark yelled out from the kitchen. "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Nothing?" Iceland guffawed. "The pirate is drunk!"

They heard the stomping footsteps before Denmark was seen storming out into the living room. He put his hands on his hips and stated, " _Rødgrød med fløde_. Bet you can't say that right!"

"You only made our point," Finland laughed. "You have to be drunk to be able to say that!"

The opening was finishing in the background as Denmark protested, "I'm not drunk!"

Norway poked his head out from the kitchen. "I just watched you drink beer while frying meatballs."

"A sip! That was a _sip_! Forgive me for celebrating!"

"We're just teasing." Norway permitted a small smile to touch his face. "Get back in here."

Denmark skipped back into the kitchen, loudly finishing the Spongebob theme song for their benefit. Sweden blinked slowly in amusement and decided he couldn't resist turning to Finland to whisper, "He's got a potato in his mouth."

Finland jolted first then slapped a hand over his mouth. He dropped to the side when a chortle escaped him and his head fell against Sweden's arm. The others lifted their heads and watched as Finland shook with laughter for an unknown reason. Sweden looked over the board, pleased by his work, as Finland collected himself.

Finland lifted his head but he did not move from his position that was snug against his side. Sweden checked that no one was watching anymore before he snuck his arm around him. Finland did not react to it and that almost made him believe that he couldn't feel it. Yet he knew that he must have and it was that he simply didn't mind.

The dog's tail wagged. Sweden analyzed this and his mind raced as he debated how likely it was that what he was thinking was true. He forgot to collect money as he went around Go and Iceland, after switching the channel, had to pass it to him.

Sweden's fingers hesitantly shifted on Finland's side, fearful that he would notice them for real and react negatively. Nothing happened. Finland stayed glued to him and content, combing the dog's fur with his fingers and smiling as everyone's turns went by.

Sweden thought about the words of a shadow in another world, one that had tried to impersonate Finland. It had his voice, but Sweden couldn't imagine Finland saying any hateful words to him now.

 _Maybe he loves me too. He's so close... He likes it, so maybe…_

He wanted to try more, like putting his other arm around him and cuddling him. It seemed that even if he did so he would not be rejected by Finland. But he didn't want to try it in front of the others, in case Finland wouldn't like it and a scene would be created.

 _It might be okay to tell him earlier than planned_ , he thought nonetheless.

The game wasn't going to have any winners in the time period they had; they had all known that. Soon Norway was putting out the dishes, cups, and utensils and Denmark started bringing out the food. The Monopoly board was abandoned as all headed toward the table. Mr. Puffin flew off Sweden's shoulder to the kitchen and Hanatamago scrambled behind, eager to have her dinner too.

Denmark dropped a massive plate of Swedish-style meatballs into the center. He then snapped an arm up and pointed directly at Sweden from across the room. "You!" he cried. "You're going to eat this! All of it!"

Besides the daunting pile of meatballs, there was a giant bowl of mashed potatoes, a basket of warm bread, an opened package of crispbread, salad, then butter and lingonberry jam to accompany. It was so intentionally Swedish that he couldn't help but feel pleased by their efforts.

He thanked them earnestly. Denmark grinned and protested playfully, "Hey, can't you be a little more enthusiastic?"

Sweden was approached once more by the open-armed Dane. The others seating themselves looked up as Denmark captured Sweden into a rough hug and laughed, "You're so thin! Gosh, if we were at war, I'd break you!"

Sweden said nothing in response. Denmark tapped Sweden's individual vertebrae then dropped into the quiet murmur of a more serious mood, "I hope you like this. I tried hard to get it all right..."

"It looks great," Sweden mumbled back.

Denmark withdrew and strode back to the table to his own seat. Sweden went to the chair open for him and once he was settled between Finland and Iceland, he felt so included at the table, integrated and safe.

He reached out and started plopping a little bit of everything onto his plate, shakily bearing the weight of the big spoons. Finland turned his head to him and asked, "Do you want help?"

He shook his head. "I should train."

Finland nodded in understanding and the others looked back to their own plates. After the brief pause, Finland suggested, "Maybe after dinner, we could all just hang around and watch a movie?"

"That would be a good idea," Norway murmured.

Sweden agreed, "Mm."

He was already exhausted from the excitement and he wanted to relax in the company of the others. Sweden briefly glanced at Finland and wondered if he was going to sit beside him and be close like they had been before. He imagined his arm around him again and unchallenged, then it felt as though all his blood rushed to his face.

He inclined over his plate so he had the excuse of the steam making his face redden. Sweden instantly leaned back once his glasses had thoroughly fogged up, now more embarrassed from his mistake. He scrambled to clear his head and focus on his food before his blushing was noticed.

Too late.

Finland's voice arose, "Are you okay, Mr. Sweden?"

He was too stunned and nervous to reply immediately. Sweden looked forward as Finland continued, "Is it fever?"

Sweden went rigid when Finland's hand touched his forehead. The skin was tender and warm, and his touch was so gentle. Sweden wanted this caring hand to stay; he could smell the cleanness and natural sweetness of his skin over the food and it set him in a tranquil mood. Sweden wanted to draw him in carefully and cuddle him but here was not the appropriate place. He might have otherwise.

The thought of that however caused him to blush harder and for his eyelids to fall halfway closed. He watched how Finland's eyes were sparkling under the blanket of light over him, but then again to him, Finland's eyes were always sparkling. They were gorgeous gems the colour of lilac petals. He wanted to tell him how beautiful he was. Sweden wanted to tell him so much that he started to rationalize why doing this would not reveal his secret affection.

His mouth parted slightly, ready to create words, but then Finland spoke.

"I think it is!" Finland gasped. "We should get you medicine!"

"I'm not sick," Sweden murmured. "I'm fine."

"But…"

Sweden answered, "It's just…"

But he stopped. He was going to say _warm in here_ , but a lump had formed in his throat. He couldn't possibly make himself lie in front of everyone.

So he finished with simply, "I'm happy."

Finland looked over his face. His eyes were still mild as he replied, "Oh, I see now!"

"Mm?"

"You're smiling!"

Sweden's face felt so soft as his small smile remained stuck on his lips. He nodded at Finland to confirm that statement.

Denmark finally felt safe to intrude. He burst out, "What? No way! He's smiling?"

He put his hands on the table and pushed upwards. Denmark leaned over his food to scrutinize Sweden.

"Where?" he demanded.

Finland said, "He is! He doesn't show it much and it's just like, the smallest movements mean a lot, you know?"

Sweden was stroked by joy to hear Finland describing him so accurately. He gazed at him as tenderly as he could although it could be interpreted as a glare by the others.

"No…" Denmark said with dramatic disbelief.

"It's true!" Sealand jumped in.

Ladonia accidentally dropped his fork onto his plate with a clatter as he pressed, "He's happy! I can see his smile too!"

Norway and Iceland looked to each other and Denmark shook his head. Denmark laughed, "Do I need a protractor to see this? I see a straight line but I might be missing the few degrees of difference!"

Finland let out a light laugh then touched a finger on the corner of Sweden's lip. "Right there," he insisted. "It curves!"

Sweden closed his eyes and felt tingling in his spine when the finger traced the shape of his mouth. He wondered if it was a big deal that Finland was being so touchy, or if this only to be expected. He was glad Finland was comfortable with him but he couldn't help but wonder if Finland was demonstrating feelings for him.

 _Was I just missed, or is there more?_ he thought. Finland's willingness to be close might wear off as everything went back to how it was before.

The hand dropped away. Sweden opened his eyes and continued to look over Finland in admiration. The light was brightening his hair and making it appear as though it was glowing. It was such a soft, magnificent blonde. He wondered if he could have touched it, gliding his hand over the hair then down his cheek.

Denmark, Iceland, and Norway peered at him until each of them started nodding.

"Oooh," Denmark said. "There is a difference. I'm going to look out for that from now on!"

Sweden gently turned away and went back to his food. He looked forward to the upcoming movie time and thought about it until he was done. Becoming full so easily, he had to wait until everyone else was finished first. His dishes were gathered for him and he was sent off to the couch after saying his thanks again. Sweden occupied himself with cleaning away the game that would have taken hours to finish, and when it was neatly packed in the box, Iceland took it away.

Norway brought out snacks in bowls and left them on the cleared-off coffee table. Denmark waddled in with a bundle of blankets and pillows then moved the table to the side so an area could be set up on the floor to lie on. Once it was ready, Denmark flopped onto the pillows and Norway sat beside him. Sealand and Ladonia swathed themselves in blankets and leaned against Sweden's legs once he sat on the couch. Finland claimed his earlier spot beside him and Iceland took the other side.

The snacks were reachable by all and there was enough room. Mr. Puffin cozied up on Iceland's lap and Hanatamago skipped over and went under the hands of Ladonia and Sealand to roll and be pet.

"Alright." Denmark clapped his hands together and hopped up. "The Lego Movie!"

"No," Norway uttered.

"But it's funny and family-friendly!" Denmark protested then addressed the children, "You guys want to watch it too, right?"

"As long as it's not in Danish," Sealand replied. Ladonia nodded in agreement.

Norway exhaled a chuckle. Denmark blushed and replied, "N-No, there's English..."

"It sounds good," Finland said. "I haven't seen it yet."

" _What_?" Denmark cried. "Then we're definitely watching it!"

"That's okay with you?" Finland asked Sweden.

He liked the idea of a fun, light movie. He nodded and replied, "Mm."

Denmark's lips shot up into a grin. He dashed to fetch the DVD and cram in into the player. He turned off the lights then lay on the blankets and pillows again, taking charge of the remotes. His legs flutter-kicked and he put his head into his hands. Sweden smiled then peaked at Finland beside him.

Finland noticed his movement and looked back at him. He smiled nicely then slid closer to him. Sweden's heart jumped but he moved in too so that he was lining his side. Iceland couldn't see from where he was and no one was looking back. Denmark hit play as Sweden snuck his arm back around Finland and waited. The movie started; Finland still had not reacted. Sweden relaxed and made his hand comfortable on his waist.

After a bit into the movie, after some smiles and soft laughs mostly due to Denmark's energetic reactions, Sweden's arm grew tired. He started to withdraw it and Finland shifted a bit away from him. Sweden frowned slightly, regretting what he did, but as he placed his hand down onto the couch between them Finland's hand slid over it like a cover.

Sweden's mind broke down temporarily. Sirens cried, _Friends don't do this, friends don't do this!_ while his heartbeat soared. Finland moved back in now and dropped his head onto his arm. Sweden quivered as Finland turned over his hand then fit his own into it, palm against palm. Sweden bent his fingers over some of Finland's knuckles and caressed them.

This position was comfortable enough that they stayed here for the remainder of the film. They laughed together in their own ways, holding onto each other more tightly for moments before releasing and being gentle once more. Sweden turned his head and at times briefly touched his face into his hair, closing his eyes and smiling.

It felt so right. There was absolute tranquility within him.

 _Tonight. I will tell him_ , he thought. There would be no more waiting.

"Fin," he sighed into his ear. He glanced around to make sure no one heard him, and fortunately Denmark was having a laughter fit that was distracting the others.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think… you could read to me tonight?"

"Read?"

"Yes... I would like you to finish that book you were reading to me."

At the next Lego Batman appearance, Denmark fell back clutching his stomach, chortling so hard that he couldn't breathe. Sweden and Finland smiled at him but kept focusing on each other's voices.

Finland clarified, " _Låt den rätte komma in_?"

Sweden felt a pleasant heat rekindle in his chest to hear Finland's Swedish again. He added, "Please. I want to listen to your voice."

"Huh? Really?"

"It sounds nice."

"Even though I have an accent?"

Sweden rumbled, "It's cute."

Finland laughed quietly and played with Sweden's fingers, pressing the fingertips of each one. He whispered, "After the movie then."

Sweden's face touched his hair again. He sighed contently and held his hand. He could hardly focus on the end of the movie now that he knew he was going to spend some time with Finland and confess to him. He waited for the credits then parted hands with Finland as everyone began to stir. The lights were turned on and he stood up with Finland.

"I'm going to show Sweden his room now," Finland told them.

Denmark asked, "What? Going to bed already?"

Sweden replied, "I'm going to read with Finland."

"Oh, that book! Nice."

Finland went on ahead and Sweden followed him to the guest room that had been reserved for him. Finland opened the door, turned on the light, and indicated the dresser.

"We filled it with clothes for you," he explained. "And you might as well get ready for bed now. I will too and I'll see you soon."

Finland left and Sweden instantly went out to the bathroom. He took a towel and found a new toothbrush in its package waiting for him on the counter. He showered first, moving carefully under the hot water with arms fatigued from just lifting them off his sides for too long. Once he had done everything and headed out, he examined the drawers in his room.

He found the sock drawer then removed the budless rose from the pocket of his black sweater; a leafless and thornless, black stem that resembled only a rod. He tucked it in out of sight then closed the drawer back up. He searched for pyjamas next but upon opening another drawer, he found it.

The gray sweater.

Sweden removed what he had on now then slipped it over his head. He pulled the hoodie over his bony frame and it hung loosely off him. He had already seen how scrawny he was but it was still strange to see his ribs so clearly outlined above the abdomen that was drawn tightly inwards. Sweden kept looking then found some bottoms to put on with it.

He crossed his arms, catching the extra fabric against his chest. He opened the door then headed to the bed where he waited anxiously, lying down then sitting up constantly. He couldn't figure out what he should be doing when Finland walked in, but he was caught sitting up when Finland entered the room clad in pyjamas and with the dog in his wake.

He gently closed the door behind him and set a cup of water down on the nightstand. Finland stood for a moment, holding the book against his side and looking into his eyes. Then he moved, gliding onto the bed then sitting beside him cross-legged.

"You're wearing the sweater."

Sweden slid toward the whisper. He set his head on Finland's shoulder and closed his eyes. He inhaled when he felt Finland turn and nuzzle the top of his head.

"I like it," Sweden sighed, "because you got it for me."

He lifted his head and hesitantly searched Finland's face. Those enchanting eyes sparkled again, directly across from his and close. Encouraging him to speak.

"It was nice of you," he concluded.

Finland said softly, "It was Christmas, of course you were getting something!"

There was a thump on the bed that startled them both. When both turned their heads, they saw Hanatamago padding over the creases of blankets toward them. She stopped before them and Sweden reached out to pet her cottony fur with a few fingers. The dog relaxed under his hand and stretched out onto her stomach. Finland cooed her name then reached out to pet her too.

Sweden murmured, "I'm sorry I missed Christmas."

"Huh? Why?" Finland asked. "It wasn't your fault."

"I wanted to help you with everything."

"It's okay," Finland whispered. "Really."

"I'd have liked to give you presents too."

Finland rubbed Hanatamago's belly when she rolled. He tossed his head against Sweden's shoulder again as he replied gently, "Don't worry about me so much…"

Finland's arms crept around Sweden as he slid around to his front. They slid up and crossed behind his neck as he slipped into a hug with him. Finland's head was tucked neatly under his chin and Sweden's arms went around his back.

Both closed their eyes and slowed their breathing. Finland tightened his grip and Sweden felt his ear on his neck. There was a sniff below him, then a murmur, "Having you back was all I needed..."

Sweden slid back to regard his face. Finland was looking down now at the mattress and the dog was sitting up to his side. Sweden put his hands on either side of his face and spread his fingers as he lifted Finland's head. His eyes flicked over his features, seeing the influx of tears caught on his eyes, ready to spill. A few strays drops already had. Quick movements of his thumbs brushed them away, then Sweden touched his forehead against his.

"I love you," Sweden murmured. "So much. I always have."

Finland began to quiver. He sniffed again and put his arms around him. Silence passed, but Sweden understood that there was pain in Finland's neck as his tissues tightened. It took a few seconds before he could voice a few words.

"R-Ruotsi…"

Sweden stroked the back of his head. Eventually, Finland stopped trembling.

"Swe, I… I think that I feel the same way."

Finland slid under his chin to hug more tightly. Sweden ran his hands over his back as his eyes watered and his heart shook. He buried his face in his hair once more and whispered, "Forgive me… for everything I did. I'm sorry. I respect your independence…"

Then, more quietly he said, "I love you, Fin… I'll always love you."

"Swe," Finland murmured, "I know you never meant to hurt me… I know now."

Sweden touched Finland's head and dipped his face down further, covering more of his face with soft hair. He rumbled, "You're not mine."

"Thank you."

"Fin… I-I want to be with you. I want to spend time with you, do everything to make you happy… I want to live my life with you… the dog… the kids… Be a family."

Finland started to shake again. He pressed into Sweden and held tighter.

"Ruotsi…" he whispered again.

"I was afraid to say it," Sweden exhaled. "In case it ruined our friendship. I loved that too much and so…"

He trailed off. Finland sniffed then began to speak.

"I started to love you just recently, when I started to figure you out. When I stopped being afraid of you, began to recognize your smile, your laugh... I got to know your real personality. I saw how nice you were with Sealand, Ladonia, and Hana… You're nice. You're caring, playful, smart… Your smiles are pretty and I want to make you laugh more.

"It seemed like you did love me too, because you always looked so happy with me. You talked more, you smiled, you laughed... But I wasn't sure… and I was scared too. What if I was imagining it all? Why wouldn't you say it, if you felt that way too?"

Finland held the cloth of his sweater as Sweden rubbed a circle into his lower back.

"I wanted to do this… at T-Tom's house- but I was so nervous! I wanted to tell you everything… maybe cuddle with you…"

"Really?" Sweden's eyebrows lifted.

Finland nodded into his chest.

"I did too."

Finland inhaled and released his hold on his clothes. Now he stroked Sweden's back, pressing lightly on his muscles and whispering, "I could not be more sure that I loved you, when you were gone… I wanted you back so much. I was afraid you were hurt, going to die… And I wanted you to know but I couldn't confess, not when I couldn't know how you felt. But, I could read and tell you what was happening… I hoped you could hear me and that the words calmed you like they did me. I wanted to help you through as best as I could."

Sweden said, "You helped me more than you can imagine. Just thinking of you gave me the determination I needed to come home."

Finland continued massaging him as he breathed, "Every day that went by, Swe, I thought about what I could do to make you happy. Even if you only wanted to be friends. You just, became such a big part of my life and I couldn't ever let you go… I waited for you for months; I visited every day and at home I thought of you. I dreamt about you waking up, about us going out into the world on these adventures and having so much fun..."

"You were on my mind every step of the way," Sweden told him. "I felt like you did. I would have done anything to make you happy even if we only were friends. You mean everything to me."

Sweden bent down his head and nuzzled his temple. Finland wrapped his arms around him and sighed, "Your hugs are so warm…"

Peaceful silence reigned for a while. Then, "Can I stay with you?"

Sweden asked, "Tonight?"

"Yeah…" Finland mumbled.

"Of course."

"And tomorrow?"

Sweden nodded against his face. "Any day."

"I want to live with you." Finland nuzzled him back. "Nothing I've ever done has felt so… right. Let's build a house, Swe. On the border."

Sweden could hardly believe the words he was hearing. He could not stop nodding, could not stop his tears from running loose underneath his glasses. Finland drew back and rubbed away Sweden's tears then his own. They gazed into each other's saturated, shining eyes, eyelids starting to droop.

"You look so happy." Finland's smile broke free over a red-cheeked face.

Sweden tilted his head slowly. "I am."

He reached for Finland's face again. His hands cupped his cheeks and his fingers spread once more over his soft skin. Sweden's mind melted with his insides as he leaned in. His lips touched the vanilla skin of his forehead, then they withdrew after a moment. He felt the pink bands across his cheeks but didn't mind this time that Finland saw his blush.

Fingers lifted the glasses from off his face. Finland folded them and set them on the nightstand before he met him again. Sweden closed his eyes when a hand placed itself on his face and a kiss found his cheek. He held Finland's obliques and blinked open his eyes. He then moved in and placed a quick kiss on his nose, to which Finland responded with one on his.

They nuzzled briefly before they continued to exchanges soft, dry kisses. Their hands eventually found each other's and held on gently, before they leaned in at the same time. Sweden felt plush lips on his own and he felt so flimsy suddenly. Finland giggled when Sweden lay back, blushing and silent. He leaned over him and laughed, "So, am I going to read?"

Sweden sighed contently, "Please."

"So you want me to continue from where I left off?"

Sweden nodded.

"How much should I read?"

"As much as you'd like," Sweden murmured. "Just don't hurt your throat."

Finland took a drink from the cup on the nightstand then offered Sweden a sip. He drank some water as Finland collected the book then he passed the cup back. He crawled over while Finland's back was turned and hugged him, leaning in simultaneously to peck his cheekbone.

"Forgot to say," Sweden murmured into his ear, "you're beautiful."

Finland dropped back into him and put his hands over his arms.

"I think you're pretty too," Finland sighed tranquilly. "Your eyes… they used to terrify me but, they're such a nice colour. Sharp, clear… and the shape of your face is so..."

They snuggled before Sweden let him go and lay back down on the bed. Finland sat beside him and flipped through the pages of the novel, still warm in the face. A few moments later, Finland began to read and his confident and clear accent soothed Sweden like a caress. He found himself sinking into the mattress with a nearly invisible smile, listening to the rolling of the r's and feeling like he was floating away with them.

A few more chapters glided by on Finland's tongue. At a point he left to bring back water, but then he read more. Sweden was so entranced. He crossed his arms behind his head and creaked open his eyes to look at Finland. He was cross-legged beside him, staring down in concentration at the book held in his two hands. Once again, his eyes were so bright and shiny. Sweden gazed over them then the clear skin of his face that was wrapped around such a comely bone structure.

Finland glanced over at him. Sweden slid his eyes shut again and continued listening to the reading that had not skipped a beat. He let his heart slow as Finland continued to flip through the pages, more so when Finland freed a hand to stroke through his hair. His breaths drew out longer and came in slower as the story danced into his ears and the loving touch eased his being.

The words started to fade after a while and all light disappeared. Shadowy trees appeared in his vision, sprouting from the ground one-by-one to endless heights. An utter silence drifted in to replace Finland's voice and Sweden looked around himself fearfully. He shivered to see that the almost complete darkness stretched unendingly in every direction with the trees.

He padded forward with the certain feeling of eyes watching them. Black eyes; empty eyes. There was something gray hovering at his side and Sweden hesitantly glanced to it. He jolted.

A corpse was standing and staring back at him, its wedding dress lifting and falling in the soft breeze. Sweden hurried forward and left it behind, his footsteps thumping away on the ground showered in pine needles. He walked briskly onward into the unknown, his heart rate increasing ever so more as he sought an exit.

He began to panic and now he couldn't get himself to calm down. The stress caused his trembling to worsen and for his heart rate to soar. Sweden kept going, striding faster until he was running. He wanted to get out. Where was the light? He needed it. He didn't want to be here.

 _Finland, where are you?_

A chink came from behind him. Then another, a metallic scraping like a sharp knife touching a plate. Sweden breathed in and out rapidly and felt adrenaline burning in him like white fire.

 _Don't look back, don't look back, don't look-_

Why was he looking back? Why couldn't he stop himself from looking back? Sweden was turning around despite how his mind screamed. His feet planted themselves after completing their 180 degree turn and now he gazed through the obscurity. From it, a massive shape approached. He saw the outlines of mechanical arms and hooked blades stretching out for him, chinking again and groaning at the hinges.

His feet seemed to be frozen to the ground and now he was left struggling frantically to move. He whined helplessly and quaked, unable to do anymore than that.

 _Finland..._

" _It's okay_ ," a gentle voice whispered. " _It's over_."

Sweden felt warm now. He felt a hand cupping his cheek and then another stroking fingertips over his forehead. Focusing on the touches pulled him from the nightmare and brought him back to the present. His moist eyes peeled open and Sweden saw Finland bent over him with eyes glowing softly with concern.

Sweden turned into the hand holding his face. He was so thankful for its mild presence. His shivering toned down as Finland pet his face and hair slowly and constantly, never leaving him without a touch for even a second. Sweden became aware that there was a pillow under his head and a pair of legs under it; he had been set onto Finland's lap at some point. Sweden sniffed and weakly shifted into him.

He could hardly think now. He was so shaken and Finland was here. He wrapped his arms around Finland's middle and pulled himself closer until his face touched his stomach. The hands did not depart. They found him again and caressed the back and top of his head until they slid down to his back.

Finland bent over and hugged him. Sweden let go of him and turned onto his back so that it was easier for Finland to collect him into his arms. He held him until he finally stopped shivering. Sweden looked up into his eyes and Finland began touching the sides of his face again. Sweden let his eyelids drop closed now to only feel the soft hands on his skin.

"Are you okay?" Finland whispered.

Sweden murmured, "Yes…"

"Are you?"

Sweden nodded while he tilted his head back into Finland's hand.

"I am," he mumbled. "You're here."

Finland touched his forehead to his.

"I can't imagine what you've seen," Finland spoke to him quietly. "But you are very strong to have survived it all."

Sweden felt a little tongue touch his hand resting on the bed. He looked over and saw Hanatamago there beside him. After being seen, she came in and tucked herself into his side.

"I thought of everything I wanted to come back to," Sweden whispered. "I told you how I thought of you… and the things we could do once I got back."

"Like what?" Finland smiled comfortingly as he ran his fingers over Sweden's jawline.

"I wanted to give you presents," he spoke with heavy lips. "Maybe… jump into some cold lakes with you. I know how fun you think that is."

Finland's smile widened. "Yeah," he laughed lightly. "I do like that..."

"Saunas… candy… whatever you like," Sweden mumbled. "I just wanted to spend time with you."

It was so alluring to look into Finland's eyes when they did not express any fear. He wanted to stay in his arms forever, so cozy and trusted.

"We will do all that," Finland promised. "Once you're better."

Sweden stayed quiet, having nothing more to say. He enjoyed relaxing in his lap and having his face and hair pet while Finland's scent washed over him.

"Sweden," Finland murmured after a while. "How often do you have these nightmares?"

"I don't know," he replied in all honesty. "I didn't wake up from any in the hospital, so maybe I forgot them."

"You don't have to tell me what happened," Finland said softly. "But I want to help you through this. I don't want this to haunt you forever."

Finland glanced at the digital clock to the side that shared the nightstand with the cup and the closed book. He whispered, "I suppose you were getting too tired."

Sweden nodded slowly.

"It's getting late anyway…" Finland said. "Maybe we should go to bed."

He transferred Sweden's head with the pillow off his legs and onto the bed. Finland's hand trailed off his face and left trails of tingling warmth.

"I'll be back quick," Finland said.

Sweden switched out the sweater for a thinner pyjama top while he was gone. Finland did return swiftly, but Sweden departed after him to the bathroom as well. He spent time washing his face of sticky tears off before he returned to his room, the journey unseen by all. There was silence in the house; everyone else had already gone to bed.

Sweden closed the door quietly behind himself, turned off the light, then padded to the bed where Finland awaited him. Hanatamago was now curled up on the end of the bed, so still and silent that it was as though she was not there. Sweden lifted the blankets then crawled in. There he waited until hands found his arm and stomach, and Finland had glided smoothly up into him.

Sweden put himself onto his side and draped an arm around Finland. Finland turned onto his side as well, facing him now and wiggling in closer. Sweden adjusted the blanket around them both then slid his arm along Finland's spine to rest it on his upper back.

Finland asked, "Are you comfortable?"

How could words describe how he felt?

Sweden left a kiss in his hair. "Yes."

"This is nice," Finland mumbled into his shirt. "I hope this will help."

"It will," he sighed.

This was better than the last time, when he had held Finland under the stars. Now Finland had come to him, staying here out of his own free will. Sweden had never been so comfortable before in any time he had tried to rest. The temperature was perfect, the blankets and pillows were where they needed to be, and Finland's presence seemed to cast a spell on him. Sweden's coziness and fatigue soon blended until he was left with pleasant dreams.

* * *

He had never felt so euphoric to wake up with Finland there beside him. It had not been a dream like he had feared. Sunlight touched upon Finland's sleeping form, making his skin glow as he respired quietly. He was on his side and still loosely in his hold. Sweden's hand glided down to settle over his then he shifted back slightly to regard Finland's sleeping visage.

Finland blinked awake and stretched. His legs trembled, then he went limp and gazed at Sweden.

"Hey," Finland breathed.

Sweden smiled. Finland's hand came up and touched the side of his face. His fingers touched the curve of his lips then they pressed on his cheek, pulling his smile then compressing it. Sweden's eyes drooped as he let Finland play with his face and he let out a faint, amused exhale.

When Finland's hand crept away, he said, "Your real smile is so pretty."

They both closed their eyes as their foreheads touched and their hands rested on each other's sides. Here it was so easy to relax, thus Sweden began to doze again. Finland soon asked though, "Do you remember the other nightmare you had?"

Sweden frowned. "Another?"

"I woke you up," Finland whispered. "I held you again and you told me a bit about the Land of Eternal Night."

"I don't remember."

"I thought it would happen. You were really tired," Finland said. "But… Swe, you are a wonderful parent. Max is happy and safe thanks to you. He will never forget you and I think he'll even try to find you one day. Your place isn't that big, you know."

"Thank you."

"I mean it, Swe. You're meant to have a happy ending like that after the nightmare you experienced."

Sweden paused. "What did I tell you I saw there?"

Finland hesitated too. He didn't answer first, instead just rubbed his side for a moment. When he replied, he said only, "I wish you never had to go through what you did. A person as good as you was not meant to be there."

"Do you know about the flower?" Sweden asked.

Finland nodded against him. "I can't wait to see it."

Sweden felt slightly disappointed that he had spoiled the surprise. It faded when he thought about how much he enjoyed where they were right now and how happy Finland would be to see the flower when it bloomed again. They cuddled for a few more minutes until Finland eventually sighed, "Okay, we better get up before anyone knows I was here."

They broke apart to get ready for breakfast. Both sat up to immediately notice that the door was not completely shut like it had been the night before. It was slightly ajar.

"Someone saw us!" Finland whispered hurriedly.

Sweden regarded the door silently.

"It's okay though," Finland sighed. "Right? It's not a big deal, is it?"

Sweden shook his head, agreeing that it wasn't a problem. Thinking about it, he didn't mind if others had seen him cuddling with Finland. He hadn't intended to keep his feelings a secret from them anyway.

Finland slid down onto his feet then started to head toward the door. He looked behind his shoulder to say mildly, "Come on then, everything's fine."

Finland's face then froze. It startled Sweden until Finland explained, "Hana's gone."

He understood too and said, "Someone took her out."

"Who though?" Finland mused.

"But it's okay," Sweden reminded him as he stood up, "because it doesn't matter."

"Yeah…" Finland exhaled. "It's just that I don't want it to be awkward if they want to talk about it at breakfast."

Finland peeked out into the hall, saw no one in sight, then slipped out past him. As Finland got ready, Sweden did as well, meeting him later in the hall with his day clothes and glasses on. By the time they had come down to the table together, Norway was sitting there with a cup of coffee already in hand. Embarrassment infected Sweden but he and Finland went on preparing simple breakfasts of yogurt and crispbread for themselves.

"Good morning," Norway said to them. That was all; he said no more.

They sat on either side of him after returning the greeting. Then came the silence. Sweden wanted to know very much what Norway thought of it all and he wondered why he was quiet. He would have expected at least a small comment from him by now.

"Hey…" Finland seemed to have finally cracked. He turned to Norway, "You don't care, right?"

"About what?" Norway asked.

Finland shifted in his seat, nervous to have to clarify. "You know… when you opened the door to get Hana and saw..."

"What are you talking about?" Norway muttered.

Finland threw a confused look to Sweden. Sweden knew he was thinking the same thought that he shared: _Is Norway pretending he didn't see for our sakes?_

But it didn't seem that Norway would lie, so Sweden started to believe that he was not the person who took the dog out.

 _But the others don't wake up so early... right?_

"I don't know what I was supposed to see," Norway continued. "But I didn't take out your dog. That's what Iceland's doing right now."

Sweden contained the jolt of surprise that almost took form. Now Finland was looking at him worriedly.

"What is it?" Norway looked over the cup near his face to Finland. He had seen the worried glances.

The front door opened then clicked shut. Instead of answering, Finland jumped up walked out of the room and Sweden followed him. By the front door, Iceland was kneeling and taking the leash off Hanatamago. The little dog skipped free immediately once let loose to blissfully greet Sweden and Finland. Iceland was left standing with his bird companion sitting on his head and looking between the two of them.

"What?" he asked.

"So you took her out?" Finland responded.

Iceland held up the leash, furrowing his eyebrows. "Um, yeah?"

He set it aside then walked past them to the kitchen. Finland looked at Sweden again, unsure, then they went back to their breakfasts. Still, no one made a comment about them and there was only silence at the table. Sweden began wondering if Iceland even knew. It was possible that he had only opened the door a bit and the dog had squirmed out, so he had not seen more of the room.

After they had taken care of their dishes, Sweden and Finland met in the living room. It was empty; the children who normally occupied it seemed to still be asleep. Denmark too, although Iceland was strangely awake at this time.

"He's never been up before me," Finland whispered.

Sweden shrugged. "Maybe it's just today."

"Well, I guess no one saw," Finland said.

He nodded. At this time Hanatamago skipped into the room, interested by their proximity and whispering. They both looked down to her, prompting Finland to say, "Iceland didn't walk her; he just took her out."

"You want to go for a walk?"

Finland said, "The exercise would be good for you and we won't go far."

The idea sounded perfect to Sweden. They went straight to the front to put on their winterwear and some on the dog that followed them. Sweden crouched down and helped Finland put booties onto her tiny paws, then a coat. They stood back and observed her tenderly for a moment, adoring the pleased, fluffy dog dressed up in Christmas red and white who was watching them with shining, black eyes.

Finland clipped on her leash then slid it into one of Sweden's hands. "You have to walk her," he insisted. "She missed that so much."

The tail wagged more. Hanatamago yipped and spread out her limbs in excitement. While Sweden watched her, Finland took the opportunity to wrap a scarf around Sweden's neck and the lower half of his face.

"To protect your lungs," Finland murmured.

Sweden smiled under the scarf and Finland must have seen it in his eyes because he smiled back. Sweden headed to the door and opened it, leading them both into the chilly air. He had hardly taken two steps from the house before a snowball met him in the chest. He halted and turned toward the direction it was thrown and find the culprit.

Denmark was crouching behind a short and lopsided snowman. To his sides were Sealand and Ladonia, now giggling. Sweden brushed the snow off his jacket as Finland called out to them, "What are you doing up?"

"It snowed last night so I woke everyone up to come outside!" Denmark laughed. "Look! I even got Iceland and Norway to make one!"

Denmark pointed to another snowman, one fully sized and superiorly neater than his and the childrens'. As Finland and Sweden took the time to be amused by the difference, Denmark started to chuckle, "But I noticed that Finland's room was empty…"

They stared at him, eyes widening. Denmark paused, then sighed, "I wasn't going to wake you two when you were looking so cozy."

Ladonia and Sealand looked up in befuddlement. Finland gasped, "So it was you?"

"Yeah."

Finland started to ask, "Did you tell-"

"No, unless you want me to. Then I will definitely say how _cute_ -"

Finland blushed instantly and said, "No, no… um… we'll tell them…"

"You going for a walk?" Denmark asked.

"Er, yeah…" Finland answered.

"Gonna hold hands?"

Finland stammered, "D-Denmark!"

"No?" he laughed. "Why not?"

Sweden absolutely loved how blushy they both were being. He let his hand hang loose and by him, and Finland clasped it although it only made his own face redden more. A grin snuck across Denmark's face and he said, "Aww, look at you two. We were wondering when this was going to happen!"

"Wh-what?" Finland blinked.

"Hey, is he smiling? You smiling, Swe?" Denmark asked. "Pull down your scarf."

Sweden laughed in an exhale then revealed his whole face.

"He is!" Denmark exclaimed. "So happy… and was that a laugh then?"

"It was," Finland smiled.

"Aww," Denmark cooed again. "I've never seen Sweden like this, being so sweet! Alright, I won't be the one to tell them, but Norway and Iceland will want to know too. I'll see you guys later then!"

Sweden covered his face back up and nodded. He then walked away with Finland across the yard toward the sidewalk. Sweden glanced back and espied Denmark's giant smile before they rounded a corner and the house disappeared from sight.

Finland's head touched his shoulder and a blissful laugh now escaped him. Hanatamago padded along calmly at Sweden's side as he tilted his head toward Finland. His skin touched his hair and Sweden's heart beat warmly in the frozen world.

Finland sighed serenely, "We'll tell them when we get back, won't we?"

Sweden nodded and rubbed his thumb over his. Their hands squeezed each other's meaningfully for a few moments then relaxed.

"Yes," Sweden murmured. "We will."

 **The End**


End file.
